%%²%%²%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples have been commented out. Please don't uncomment them unless you provide an explanation how the example fits the trope.²%%²%%²%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1362797972014015100²%% Previous threads:²%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=u12nby3eels55mp6wnm61yx6²%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1319601321019558000²%% DO NOT start a new thread without a good replacement suggestion that hasn't been suggested in one of those threads.²%%²[[quoteright:262:[[Film/RomanHoliday https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1roman-holiday-vespa_9061.jpg]]]]²[[caption-width-right:262:She'll liven up your life... whether you like it or not!]]²²->''"I brake for birds! I rock a lot of polka dots! I ''have'' touched glitter in the past 24 hours! I spent my entire day talking to ''children!'' And I find it fundamentally strange that you're not a dessert person; that's just weird and it freaks me out! And I'm sorry I don't talk like Series/MurphyBrown! And I hate your pantsuit. I wish it had ribbons on it or something to make it slightly cuter!"''²-->-- '''[[Creator/ZooeyDeschanel Jessica Day]]''', ''Series/NewGirl'' [[labelnote:NOTE]]''who is, ironically, not an example. Albeit not for lack of trying on her part.''[[/labelnote]]²²Let's say you're a [[ByronicHero soulful, brooding male hero]], living a sheltered, emotionless existence. If only someone could come along and open your heart to the great, wondrous adventure of life... ²²Have no fear, the ''Manic Pixie Dream Girl'' is here to give new meaning to the male hero's life! She's stunningly attractive, [[GenkiGirl energetic]], [[BlitheSpirit high on life]], full of [[CloudCuckooLander wacky quirks and idiosyncrasies]] (generally including {{child|renAreInnocent}}like playfulness), often with a touch of wild hair dye. She's inexplicably obsessed with our [[TheComicallySerious stuffed-shirt hero]], on whom she will focus her ''kuh-razy'' antics until he learns to live freely and love madly.²²The Manic Pixie Dream Girl may be featured as the SecondLove, in order to break the character out of TheMourningAfter. If he's a cynic, her goal may be to convince him that SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers. Finally, she may be presented as a cheerful variety of ThresholdGuardians, all the way from less uptight to {{psychopomp}}s happily welcoming their clients into [[DontFearTheReaper "another adventure"]].²²It's a long-standing trope (around since at least [[Literature/VitaNuova 1283]]), but the term was coined in 2007 by film critic Creator/NathanRabin, who [[PetPeeveTrope found it grating]], as he believed it to be the result of WishFulfillment from stir-crazy writers. He explicitly compared it to the MagicalNegro, in that a Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists to help the protagonist achieve happiness without ever seeking any independent goals herself. Unfortunately, the term ended up being misused to describe simply quirky female characters, with many who are actually well-rounded being given this label. [[http://www.salon.com/2014/07/15/im_sorry_for_coining_the_phrase_manic_pixie_dream_girl/ Rabin would later]] [[CreatorBacklash disown the term]], because instead of creating awareness of the "lack of independent goals in female characters", the concept instead accidentally ended up suggesting that ALL quirky and fun women automatically merited this trope, whether they actually fit in or not. This should be remembered when adding examples below. Also note that a protagonist can rarely be a MPDG because as the main character, she is most likely to have independent story arc and depth of character.²²Despite all that (or ''because'' of all that), [[TropesAreTools there are ways of utilizing this trope without falling into that pitfall]]. Given enough time, CharacterDevelopment can add to their personality and interests and pull them away from the MPDG foundation. The story may even be told from [[SwitchingPOV their perspective]], revealing that there is more to them than bringing adventure to brooding guys. {{Deconstruction}}s of the idea may show that they resent being considered only useful for the benefit of the main character, idolized as something that they are not, or that once the main character reaches their "enlightened" stage, the MPDG moves on to the next person who needs their help. An alternative type of deconstruction is for a character introduced like this to turn out to be ''dangerously'' unstable, tipping over into CuteAndPsycho.²²A subtrope of BlitheSpirit, and related to MagicalGirlfriend, LoonyFriendsImproveYourPersonality, and DamselErrant. From the girl's perspective, this trope becomes SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan, though whether the hero ''qualifies'' varies.²²Compare {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, GenkiGirl, PerkyGoth, UptightLovesWild, SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl, PomPomGirl, and QuirkyUkulele for similar personality roles. May also overlap with TricksterGirlfriend if she enjoys playing tricks on the protagonist and deliberately misleading him just for the fun of it. Sometimes the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a HypercompetentSidekick. Contrast NerdNanny and YamatoNadeshiko for examples of calmer and more mature ladies. The ScrewballComedy is a genre driven entirely by this character type.²²Although not quite {{Always Female}}, a "Manic Pixie Dream Boy" is a [[MostWritersAreMale much rarer concept]]. "Manic Pixie Dream Boys", where they exist, tend to either be young (e.g., a KidSidekick) or [[ManChild immature]]. If the latter, expect them to ''learn'' just as much from their cynical partner as they ''teach'' (the cynic learns to enjoy life more while the immature one learns responsibility).²----²!!Examples²²[[foldercontrol]]²²[[folder:Anime and Manga]]²* Ai from ''Manga/AiRen'' has been especially brought back to life to accompany the male protagonist during his last days. Her looks and personality follow the rules of this trope to a T, [[spoiler:but, alas for the boy, she is of the variety that dies before he does]].²* Menma from ''[[Anime/AnohanaTheFlowerWeSawThatDay anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day]]'' becomes this for Jinta, [[WeWereYourTeam former leader]] of a group of childhood friends that have drifted apart due to the [[TheMourningAfter loss of one of their friends]]. {{Subvert|edTrope}}s the usual SecondLove part as Menma is [[DeadToBeginWith the friend that died]], and she came to Jinta for help accomplishing some [[GhostlyGoals unfinished business that's preventing her from moving on]].²* ''Ashita Dorobou'' has an interesting variant of this trope. Might be a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of sorts. Straitlaced protagonist Kyouichi Miyasako, 30 years old, broke up with his quirky, free-spirited girlfriend Ashita Tendou way back in college, and has been haunted by regret ever since. Suddenly, with a UFO hanging in the sky over Tokyo, she returns to him, wearing the same maid costume she was wearing when he dumped her, and she hasn't aged a day. He tentatively accepts her back into his life, even though something feels off about the whole situation.²* ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': ZigZaggingTrope. ²** Kyon was fine with his life as it was, or at least thought so until the day he decided to strike up a conversation with Haruhi, not knowing (at the time) what he was getting himself into. Their meeting gave her the impetus to create the SOS Brigade. Rather than wait around for extraterrestrials, espers, and time travellers to show up, she decided they'd investigate strange happenings around their neighborhood in hopes of finding them herself, and she volunteered [[UnluckyEverydude Kyon]] as her first inductee.²** The series goes deeper by exploring Haruhi's psyche, revealing that her eccentricity stems from her perpetual boredom. Complicated further when Koizumi explains that Haruhi unknowingly possesses the ability to [[RealityWarper reshape reality as they know it, according to her desires.]] And is convinced she may be the god of their universe. Despite Kyon's initial skepticism, this revelation sheds new light on his perception of Haruhi, and he eventually accepts that Koizumi may be right. He also comes to realize that he actually likes the weirdness that surrounds her and ultimately admits he prefers life ''with'' Haruhi than without[[note]]near the end of ''"The Disappearance of Suzumiya"''[[/note]].²* Creator/YuuWatase plays with this trope in ''Manga/CeresCelestialLegend'' with Chidori Kuruma. Although she has way more depth of character than the average MPDG (taking care of her sick younger brother and such), she tries to win over Yuuhi's heart with her child-like enthusiasm. However, although they end up being [[JustFriends good friends]], Yuuhi never loves her back, since he was already in love with TheHeroine Aya. [[spoiler:Their relationship ends tragically when Chidori ''dies'' in his arms shortly before the end of the story.]]²* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'': Depressed demon is discovered by an [[{{Determinator}} absurdly stubborn]] GenkiGirl just after getting through the MayflyDecemberRomance from Hell. However, it's ''Rosette's'' life that goes completely pear-shaped upon the chance meeting.²* In Hanamori Pink's short manga ''Get Nude'', sloppy delinquent Subaru is the [[SpearCounterpart Manic Pixie Dream Boy]] to strait-laced StudentCouncilPresident Misao.²* Shuichi Shindou from ''Manga/{{Gravitation}}'' is Manic Pixie Dream Boy to Eiri Yuki. While he's actually the main character, his life revolves around drawing Yuki out of his shell to such an extent that everything else, even his singing career, takes a backseat to their relationship.²* ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}'' protagonist Alita/Gally went trough a period of almost obsessive MPDG behavior when she fell madly in love with a boy named Yugo, during which she was even willing to die for him. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it is Yugo who died at the exact moment Alita dragged him out of his shell.]]²* In ''Manga/BoysOverFlowers'', [[GenkiGirl Shigeru]] [[GeniusDitz Ookawahara]] tried to be this to Domyouji, her [[ArrangedMarriage arranged fianc&eacute;]]. However, after he flat out tells her that he isn't in love with her and never will be, she becomes devoted to keeping [[TheMatchmaker Tsukushi and Domyouji together]].²* The eponymous CuteGhostGirl in ''Manga/MyLovelyGhostKana'' is much more GenkiGirl on the surface, but she and Daikichi play this role for each other. Daikichi starts the series contemplating suicide after a run of terrible luck, and happens to move into an apartment "[[PrettyFreeloader haunted]]" by Kana, who manages to talk him out of it with her unique perspective, having successfully committed suicide years earlier with considerable dissatisfaction. Eventually, Kana convinces Daikichi that life is precious, and Daikichi's friendship cheers Kana immensely after years of solitude. Later, Kana deliberately plays the trope towards Inagawa up to a point.²* ''Anime/{{K}}'':²** In the anime, Shiro and [[ADogNamedDog Neko]] are both this for Kuroh. At first, Neko seems to fit this exactly for both of them, showing up in Shiro's room naked and declaring herself to be his cat, but Shiro has a lot of this himself. And Shiro is much more of a love interest to Kuroh, with both of them seeing Neko as somewhere between a pet and a little sister.²** In the novel ''Lost Small World'', Misaki Yata is this for Saruhiko Fushimi, when they were in middle school. Something of a deconstruction, because -- in addition to being a male/BL example -- when they join the Red Clan, Misaki fits in with them much better than Saruhiko does, causing Saruhiko to begin to resent him. When Saruhiko meets the Blue King, and realizes he would fit into the Blue Clan better than the Red, Misaki doesn't understand him at all, and considers him a traitor, setting up for [[FoeRomanceSubtext where their relationship is at the time of the series]].²* ''Manga/NodameCantabile'': Megumi Noda fits this description, but her chosen inspire-ee, [[{{Tsundere}} Chiaki]], mostly wishes she'd just go away. Too bad she lives in the next apartment over, goes to his music school, and [[SelfProclaimedLoveInterest starts calling him her husband]] a few chapters in. Nodame's also such a manic pixie that [[ManChild she can't take proper care of herself]] ''[[ManChild at all]]'', necessitating Chiaki to feed her and keep her apartment from turning into the TrashOfTheTitans.²** Subverted, because while she is instrumental in motivating Chiaki to take his musical career further, she is very much a well-rounded character of her own. Her development later on in the series shows this very clearly.²* Takigawa Magister from ''Manga/OnaniMasterKurosawa'' is the first to get the eponymous onanist out of his shell.²* The energetic [[CloudCuckooLander Jyushimatsu]] plays a male example in episode 9 of ''Anime/OsomatsuSan''. While practicing his baseball swing, he meets a depressed, unnamed country woman ready to [[DrivenToSuicide jump off a cliff]]. His wacky antics and funny personality make them become quick friends. [[spoiler:Their relationship ends tragically when the girl has to return to her city on the day Juushimatsu was planning to confess to her, no less.]]²* In keeping with ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'''s theme of gender reversal, Tamaki Suoh is a male MPDG, encouraging the shy and self-reliant Haruhi to come out of her shell, and the bookish Kyouya to loosen up a bit.²* Paprika's job in ''Literature/{{Paprika}}'' is being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl for men: a sprightly therapist who joins them in their dreams and takes them on surrealist adventures. In her daily life, [[spoiler:she sees herself only as a dull, proper scientist and ignores the spontaneous part of herself too much]].²* Misha from ''Manga/PitaTen'' is this toward Kotarou. In the anime she's just doing it because she believes it's what an angel should do, in the manga it's originally because [[spoiler:Kotarou is the {{reincarnation|Romance}} of his granduncle Kotaroh, the boy she loved who committed suicide]].²* ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' parodies this with Fuura Kafuka, the [[{{Pollyanna}} ridiculously upbeat]] {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, and Nozomu Itoshiki, a man who is always [[CatchPhrase in despair]]. However, the show is adamant about not giving anyone any CharacterDevelopment whatsoever... And even if they did, [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant Kafuka's methods wouldn't develop anybody's character]], save possibly making them clinically insane... or dead.²* ''LightNovel/{{Shimoneta}}'': Life was normal for Tanukichi, until his fateful encounter with [[EthicalSlut Blue Snow]], who saves him from the Public Decency Squad at the railway station. Later that morning, he learns she's really [[TheHero Ayame Kajou]], the vice-president of Tokioka Academy's student council. The incident at the station and his status as Zenjoru Oukuma's son inspires her to create [[LaResistance SOX.]] Guess who she drafts as her first recruit?²* Mihoshi Akeno in ''Manga/SoraNoManimani'', who has a touch of [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Unlucky Childhood Friend]] running through her in addition to being a hyperactive girl who wants to get broody book-reading protagonist Saku out into the world of the Astronomy Club.²* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'':²** Kamina is a [[CatchPhrase PARAGON OF MASCULINITY]] version of this for his bro, the shy, ShrinkingViolet main character Simon. He's zany, wacky, ballsy, CrazyAwesome, and encourages Simon toward the CallToAdventure, setting the series into motion. [[spoiler:Sadly, he [[MentorOccupationalHazard ends up dying in order to move the plot along]], leaving Simon in a manic and depressive state.]]²** Nia, who replaces Kamina in this role after [[spoiler:his death]], she ends up being the one who helps Simon believe in himself again and serves as his strongest supporter. [[spoiler:She dies at the end, minutes after marrying Simon post Timeskip, resulting in Simon WalkingTheEarth from then on to [[FillItWithFlowers fill the world with flowers]] in her memory.]]²* ''Manga/VideoGirlAi'': this trope is [[DiscussedTrope explored]] in the manga. Ai and the other Video Girls are supposed to be sort-of RobotGirl versions this, created specifically to comfort young and kind-hearted persons in trouble, and supposed to comfort them without thinking of anything similar to their own agency... but Ai being played in a defective VCR actually kickstarts her ''acquiring emotions of her own'' and questioning her role. Which then starts a sort-of snowball to roll, since [[spoiler:her creator Rolex wants to eliminate and/or manipulate her as it first his purpose, while Youta and the old man from the Gokuraku Store rebel against this and think that Ai and other Video Girls ''are'' deserving of their own emotions and being more than just this trope]]. It also deconstructs the role of the ''man'' in this sort of relationship, as it is heavily hinted that while a standard Video Girl would give "pure-hearted" boys like Youta the fun-loving companionship and comfort they need, said boys would never grow as independent people, nor gain the emotional maturity to enter a real relationship. Furthermore, while "customers" know that a Video Girl's love is artificial from the get-go, they're so desperate for affection that a VG's devotion and unconditional affection would win them over regardless, and make them incapable of the real thing in the long run. On the other hand, it is explicitly shown ([[spoiler:as an experiment from Rolex with Video Girl Mai]]) that equally lonely, brooding, but not-quite-pure-hearted boys would succumb to a severely codependent relationship and would end up broken even worse than they started.²* Exploited in ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'' with Misaki, [[spoiler:who gloms onto the main characters because she needs to have the company of people she considers even more pathetic than herself]].²* ''Manga/FlunkPunkRumble'' subverts this. The girl forces him to help under the pretext of being the class president, making the life of the {{Delinquent|s}} loner hell with her hare-brained attitude and well-meaning schemes. [[spoiler:She's only bugging him because she used to be a delinquent herself and can't relate to anyone else.]]²* ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'':²** Haruko seems like one of these, attaching herself to soulful brooding main character Naota and being the main impetus behind his ComingOfAgeStory. Up until it's subverted by [[spoiler:the reveal that she had her own agenda all along and her wacky hijinks were part of a plan to manipulate Naota until he'd served his purpose and she's not really all that interested in him as a person at all -- the 'CharacterDevelopment' she inspired in him was either incidental or (mostly) part of the plan (although her last few lines suggest that she's genuinely taken a liking to Naota, even if her own personal mission took top priority.)]]²** Mamimi is a deconstruction, as her strange actions and her inappropriate advances on Naota are signs that she has serious issues of her own to work out.²* RareMaleExample: ''Manga/KotouraSan'''s Manabe, bringing [[BrokenBird Har]][[TheIngenue uka]] out of her shell with his love of life, wacky antics, and copious amounts of perverted {{Imagine Spot}}s.²* Nyarlathotep (please, call her Nyarko) from ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'' fits that second paragraph at the top of the page like she was poured into it. In fact, it actually works to her disadvantage, as her manic nature (including lying to people about their nonexistent sex life and impending firstborn) actually puts off her {{Love Interest|s}} Mahiro, who's said that he has a hard time believing her confessions of love and has admitted to himself that he'd like her better if she could take it down a few notches[[note]]That, and her being a [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] CosmicHorror [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith who only LOOKS like a cute girl]] kinda wrecks his mood[[/note]]. In fact, the few times Nyarko has toned herself down and acted demure, even Mahiro is surprised at how attractive he finds her.²* An interesting subversion, and probable {{deconstruction}}, occurs in ''Manga/DeathNote''. Misa Amane is a GeniusDitz PerkyGoth with a mad zest for life and a MadLove for the uptight BrokenAce [[LightIsNotGood Light]] Yagami. Unfortunately for her, Light has no intention of falling in love, and finds her antics both obnoxious and exasperating. He does, however, play along in order to use her [[RedEyesTakeWarning shinigami eyes]].²-->'''Misa:''' LIGHT!!\²''[Misa [[TheGlomp glomps]] him]''\²'''Light:''' This is the first time in my life I've wanted to hit a woman.²* Kirika Kure is a childish, scatterbrained LoveFreak for the eponymous magical girl of ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'', and became a LivingEmotionalCrutch for Oriko after her family's fall from grace. [[spoiler:She's also the attacker in the magical girl murders. And she admits to Oriko, after being fatally wounded, that [[InvokedTrope the Manic Pixie persona was a charade fuelled by Kirika's own wish to become someone Oriko would love]].]]²* In ''Anime/AngelBeats Heaven's Door'', Hinata is at first a bit put off by Yuri's violent behaviour and awkward social skills, but in the end she's the one who gives him a goal and a will to struggle in his afterlife. For this reason, not only he but everyone else who later joins their group is eager to put up with her ridiculous plans and her moments of InsaneTrollLogic. It helps that more often than not, [[CrazyEnoughToWork said ridiculous plans end up working.]] ²* ''Manga/PrincessJellyfish'' has a rare genderswap. Kuranosuke is a WholesomeCrossdresser who meets the protagonist, a socially awkward and shy manga artist, when he helps her save a jellyfish. In this case, it's romantic however Tsumiki originally doesn't realize that Kuranosuke likes her. She's more interested in his [[SiblingTriangle brother]].²* Michiru is an almost literal example from ''Kono Kanojo wa Fiction desu'', to a frightening extent.²* Another male example: ''Anime/SamuraiFlamenco'' has its very main character, [[{{Keet}} Masayoshi]], become this to [[FairCop Goto]] after a fateful meeting in a dark alley, dragging him into his superhero antics and taking him out of his mundane, boring life. Goto having a girlfriend already doesn't change things. [[spoiler:And then it even fits the SecondLove aspect of this trope, as Goto's girlfriend is revealed to have gone missing years ago, and he'd been [[LovingAShadow texting himself]] since then.]]²* In ''Anime/KOn'', Ritsu and Yui act as Manic Pixie Dream Girls to [[HoYay/KOn Mio and Azusa]], respectively.²* ''Manga/YourLieInApril'' has Kaori who plays this role for the depressed Kousei. She inspires him to get back into playing the piano after he quit due to his mother's death several years ago. Slightly subverted in the fact that [[spoiler:she has a similar story of trauma in her past -- having been an IllGirl from an early age -- and she's [[InvokedTrope consciously being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl]] in order to help Kousei get through his problems]]. Kaori is a rare case as [[spoiler:Manic Pixie Dream Girls almost never die]]. Further subverted in that the ending shows [[spoiler:that it was her goal to play violin with Kosei accompanying her, so getting him out of his funk fulfills her dream as much as it helps him]]. She also actively pursues classical music on her own terms.²* Played with in ''Manga/TokyoGhoul''. [[HopelessSuitor Banjou]] recalls Rize as a strong-willed, free-spirited dream girl that inspired him to take chances and live freely. His feelings for her blind him to the fact that Rize was a sociopath that only cared about herself, leaving ruin in her wake and completely unconcerned with how her actions impacted others. She made a pattern of causing problems in a Ward, and then fleeing it the moment her actions attracted attention from the human authorities -- leaving others to deal with the consequences, while she moved to another Ward to continue enjoying herself. In fact, Rize's disregard for the rules of the 11th Ward and killing of its leaders for trying to reign her in, allowed [[TheSyndicate Aogiri Tree]] to move in on the ward and enslave the local Ghoul population. ²* Subverted in ''Manga/DetectiveConan''. The [[SingleTargetSexuality love of Inspector Shiratori's life]] is a strong-willed, outspoken girl [[ChildhoodFriendRomance whom he met when they were children]], and her [[GenkiGirl incredibly cheerful antics]] are what motivated him to become a policeman in the first place. [[ZigZaggingTrope Then we see]] that this was their first and only encounter in ''almost twenty years'', that Shiratori [[LovingAShadow chased after another woman]] because he mistakenly ''thought'' she was said girl, and that "the girl" actually grew into [[NiceGirl a much more thoughtful and quiet person]], [[spoiler:the local CoolTeacher Kobayashi-sensei]]. [[OfficialCouple Despite all these changes, they still fall in love and get together]].²* Ryoko from ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' is about as manic and pixie as girls can get (perhaps moreso, as in many continuities she's ''[[DesignerBaby engineered]]'' thus), and livens up Tenchi's life in a way he quickly becomes addicted to, but also demonstrates a LogicalWeakness in [=MPDG=]s; Those lovable personality traits have led her to become a career criminal with absolutely ''zero'' impulse control. ²* In ''Manga/GourmetGirlGraffiti'', Kirin's [[GenkiGirl energy]] brought Ryou out of the latter's depressive rut[[note]]Caused by ParentalAbandonment.[[/note]] in the beginning of the series, starting with [[TastesLikeFriendship food sharing]]. This was [[LampshadeHanging noted]] by Shiina in Chapter 24:²-->''[Ryou] has changed a lot since [Kirin] came... in a good way... I couldn't say it, but if I had a personality more like [Kirin], [Ryou] would have been happier now.''²* ''Manga/SatouKashiNoDanganWaUchinukenai'' is about a [[LittleMissSnarker weary middle school girl]] named Nagisa Yamada, who plans on joining the army instead of going to high school. The weird NewTransferStudent, Mokuzu Umino, takes a liking to Nagisa and wants to be her friend. Mokuzu insists that [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent she is a mermaid]] and that if she doesn't make friends before the next hurricane she will die; Nagisa obviously doesn't believe her but Mokuzu keeps tagging alongside her and that's the start of their friendship... [[spoiler:It turns out Mokuzu isn't in a very good situation herself though. She has a ''very'' DarkAndTroubledPast involving her [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] and [[ParentalAbandonment her mother leaving them]]. She needs saving herself for much more serious reasons.]] Nagisa and Mokuzu try to [[TheRunaway runaway]] but Mokuzu [[spoiler:ends up {{kill|TheCutie}}ed by [[OffingTheOffspring her father]]]].²* In ''Manga/Brave10'', Saizo is pretty much being dragged around by Isanami from their first meeting although she is sometimes more of a Manic Pixie Nightmare Girl.²* Punpun from ''Manga/GoodnightPunpun'' tries to invoke this with the pretty NewTransferStudent Aiko. Emphasis on "''tries''". Aiko's [[BrokenBird just as miserable]] as him, if not worse, and being in each other's lives screws everything up even more. Punpun is LovingAShadow for much of the series and imagines Aiko in ways that she isn't. The manga ends up deconstructing the trope badly. [[spoiler:They run off together but Aiko later [[DrivenToSuicide kills herself]]. Punpun tries to, but [[BungledSuicide fails]] and loses an eye. He's still miserable at the end of the manga.]]²* ''Fujimi Lovers'': If it were any perspective but Jun Kouno's, he definitely fits the trope. His predicament makes it so his first and [[StarcrossedLovers always tragic]] love, Rino Hasebe, disappears from existence the moment she falls for him. Throughout his life he encounters multiple Hasebes, proclaiming his love for them out of the blue, insisting on getting his feelings through to them, and barging his way into their lives to help them through their personal struggle, which almost always leads to the Hasebes (re)discovering what it means to love.²* Saber from ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'' is a male version with a twist. Saber, like most Manic Pixie Dream Guys, is impulsive, adventurous, relentlessly optimistic, charmingly idiosyncratic, pops into Ayako's life at her lowest and most depressed, and is literally a magical KnightInShiningArmor that exists for Ayako's sake. The problem? It turns out that Saber is [[spoiler:Richard the Lionheart]], and Manic Pixie Dream Guys [[TheCaligula make for rather poor rulers]]…²* ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'': {{Subverted|Trope}}. Initially, it seems like Rikka is the bizarre pixie girl who enters strait-laced protagonist Yuta's life to shake him up and teach him to embrace being {{chunibyo}} again, but as the story goes on it becomes apparent ''he's'' the one who has to help ''her'' get over her deep psychological scars.²* Hajime Ichinose of ''Anime/GatchamanCrowds'' is an unusual example in that she is both the protagonist and plays this role to her entire team rather than just one person. She's energetic and optimistic to the extreme, encouraging everyone to expand their horizons.²* Deconstructed in ''Manga/{{Kakegurui}}'' with protagonist Yumeko Jabami. She sweeps into Hyakkaou Private Academy and immediately shakes things up, saving Suzui from his debts and forging many a FireForgedFriendship with fellow students. But her obsession with gambling is taken to extremes that terrify just about everyone, getting off on the thrill of risking it all and unconcerned with whether she wins or loses. She's repeatedly dragged her friends into these high-risk games, risking freedom and life itself for a thrill. When confronted about how she's ruined so many lives, she admits that [[LackOfEmpathy she doesn't feel any remorse]]. For a bonus, her name even ''means'' "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Snake-devouring Dream Girl]]", hinting at her dangerous nature.²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Comic Books]]²* A DeconstructedCharacterArchetype in the graphic novel ''ComicBook/{{Demo}}'': A stressed-out businessman meets one of these girls. She encourages him to unwind and enjoy himself, as they meet over meals and he occasionally lends her money. Then one day he gets suspicious, breaks into her apartment... [[spoiler:and finds an array of recording equipment. The reason she can say what he needs to hear is because she spies on him.]]²* In ''Franchise/{{Batman}} Confidential'' "Lovers and Madmen", Harley plays this role for Jack Napier. Jack was in a rut and utterly bored with his life of crime. Harley -- unaware that his "job" was career criminal -- told him that it sounded like he had a gift and that he ought to embrace it. Jack takes her advice and goes to his next job [[spoiler:which leads to his fateful encounter with Batman that turns him into ComicBook/TheJoker]]. Harley doesn't quite fit the mold since she has her own issues too: she's working nightshifts as a waitress at a bar to pay her college tuition and jokingly tells Jack that if he really wanted to thank her for the advice he can give her enough money to pay her way through college. [[spoiler:After he becomes ComicBook/TheJoker he does just that.]]²* In ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Death: The High Cost of Living]]'', Death's incarnation on Earth fills this role towards the viewpoint character, mostly by means of inexhaustible good cheer rather than engaging in wacky antics. There's no hint of a romantic attraction from either side either, and the viewpoint character realistically finds her kind of annoying.²** This tends to be Death's role in general. In all her appearances, she turns up, acts quirky and gets people to cheer up or gives them a stern talking to depending on their needs... but she never seems to have any goals or desires of her own other than to amble along and find out what happens next. Justified in that the Endless are strongly defined by their function, so Death by her very nature finds it hard to have strong preferences, since death comes to everyone and is therefore supremely impartial.²* Played straight in Charles Burns's BodyHorror opus ''Comicbook/BlackHole.'' Trippy artist Eliza is adorable and sweet from head to [[spoiler:tail]].²* David Lapham's ''ComicBook/YoungLiars'' is an entire series about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl Sadie and her effect on protagonist Danny's life. The trope is played with, as she is legitimately dangerous (she has absolutely no impulse control, and so has a tendency to get into fights--this is besides the Pinkerton detectives hired to hunt her down), and that the reason why she's a MPDG is that [[spoiler:Danny]] shot her in the head and the bullet is destroying the moral and judgment centers of her brain, which will kill her eventually.²* Subverted in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. Aroree is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl to Skywise, although he barely needs one, but mostly to her tribe, which otherwise consists of ''very'' serious ancient elves. [[BreakTheCutie She gets broken]] and [[CharacterDevelopment develops]] into a very mature, sad figure, sticking around in the main plot for the rest of the series.²* The Mist in ''ComicBook/{{Starman}}'' thinks she's this to Jack, even comparing herself to the Katharine Hepburn character in ''Bringing Up Baby''. Jack pointed out that, unlike the Mist, Hepburn did not kill anybody.²* [[DependingOnTheWriter Some depictions]] of ''Comicbook/DoctorStrange'''s apprentice and lover, Clea, show her playing little pranks on him whenever she thinks he looks too grim and needs to smile.²* Subverted in ''The Diary of Molly Fredrickson: Peanut Butter'' as [[SpicyLatina Erica]] has this effect on [[NaiveNewcomer the title character]] [[PornWithPlot sexually]] with Molly going from "merely" [[BrainBleach catching her parents roleplaying in]] ''her'' [[CatholicSchoolgirlsRule uniform]] to being the TagalongKid in her sexual adventures. There's [[SchoolgirlLesbians making out with each other in the bathroom despite no previous interest in girls]], [[CasualKink with the eponymous food]], there's a threesome with her boyfriend; and so on until threesomes and orgies are natural to her, leading up to gangbanging the {{nun|TooHoly}} Erica has FoeYay with for ''prom.'' [[PassingTheTorch Molly then becomes this trope]] when she goes to college in San Diego, orchestrates/participates in more orgies and opens up Verna, whose only sexual experience was with her uncle.²* ComicBook/SquirrelGirl fits the trope, especially around [[ComicBook/NewWarriors Speedball]] whom she is determined to rescue from his self-inflicted punishment of being the brooding AntiHero [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} Penance]].²* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': In her very first appearances, ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson had a lot of hallmarks of a screwball-comedy heroine (a Manic Pixie Dream Girl with a dark side) in that she was a free spirit, dashed attractive and clearly enjoyed throwing Peter Parker's life into disarray. Her darker side came into evidence e. g. when she on various occasions would flirt with Peter when he was committed to Gwen Stacy and she herself was supposed to be Harry Osborn's girlfriend. Obviously that changed after [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied Gwen's Death]]. It's also worth pointing out that Peter didn't start falling for her until she dropped the act and started showing [[BeneathTheMask her true self]].²* Another Creator/StanLee creation, [[ComicBook/TheWasp Janet Van Dyne]] aka the Winsome Wasp, was this to Henry Pym (Ant-Man, later Giant-Man, Goliath and Yellowjacket) in the 1960s, but again with a darker edge -- one thing she liked to do in an attempt to make him come out of his shell was to flirt with other Avengers.²* {{Reconstruct|ion}}ed in ''ComicBook/TheSculptor'' by Creator/ScottMcCloud. David falls in love in a girl named Meg when she appears to literally fly out of the sky on angel wings to give him hope. The event turns out to be a flash mob prank, but Meg sincerely cares for David after hearing about his problems. While Meg resembles the trope in that she is often energetic, has many random quirks, and is devoted to David's wellbeing, she avoids the trope's pitfalls through being fleshed out. Meg has made a job for herself in helping the homeless, is not flawless, [[spoiler:suffers from depression (made worse by not taking her medication)]], and has her own life with friends outside of David. This is best demonstrated in a speech she gives him towards the end of the comic, where she promises David she'll help make his name great ''but'' she wants her own name great too.\²\²Much of Meg's traits that resemble MPDG quirks [[https://twitter.com/ivyratafia/status/567548867109867521 are actually are based on traits of McCloud's own wife Ivy]]. He also responded to the criticism in several interviews, mirroring Nathan Rabin's response that the problem isn't quirky female characters, it's female characters who are nothing but quirks.²-->'''[=McCloud=]:''' I married the trope — what am I gonna do?²* ''Li'l Depressed Boy'' has one in hipster girl Jazz, who is a rather straight-up example, but also deconstructed somewhat. Initially, she helps the titular hero, LDB, out of his stupor, with her outgoing personality and general upbeat attitude. Not only that, but she gets him out of his routine, and they share a lot of the same interests... [[AllLoveIsUnrequited then she casually reveals that she has a boyfriend]], and is just really touchy-feely with pretty much everyone and sees LDP as [[ObliviousToLove just a friend and has no idea of how he feels about her]]. Note that ''everyone'', even random people who don't know the two, thought they were dating. LDP stops talking to her afterwards due to the awkwardness, but she, not knowing she did anything wrong, tries to maintain the friendship. It takes LDP a while to get past it, as it makes him second-guest himself in terms of relationships. Even her mannerisms are deconstructed. When LDP thought they were dating, her manicness was a good thing, since it meant things were always fun and upbeat, with the same thing applying to her touchy-feeliness. But when LDP runs into her later on with his new girlfriend Spike, her talkativeness is played up as more annoying than anything and she comes off as ''too'' touchy-feely, hugging someone she just met and all.²* Ramona Flowers from ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim''. She's not a ''[[PlayingWithATrope completely]]'' [[PlayingWithATrope straight example]], as her personality is rather [[MellowFellow mellow and low-key]], but she shakes up the main character's life, is desired by many ([[ReallyGetsAround to the point that she has seven exes]]), wears [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes very fashionable clothes,]] and [[DyeHard dyes her hair blinding neon colours]]. She also has many of the same character flaws as Scott, which is why she has seven evil exes to begin with, and the story's about both of them maturing as people and confronting these flaws head on instead of ignoring them. If anything, she's a {{Deconstruction}}.²* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': ²** Modern interpretations of ComicBook/LoisLane have her fill this role for Clark Kent. Her energy and fiery personality instantly catches his eye, and she often drags him along for her stories.²** It can also be said that Clark is a Manic Pixie Dream ''Guy'' for Lois, whether it's as himself or as Superman. Clark is appealing as the farm boy whose new to the big city and wins her over with his kindness and {{Adorkable}}, down-to-earth nature, while Superman is appealing as the brave, altruistic, larger-than-life hero who literally sweeps her off her feet, comes to her rescue, and shows her all sorts of fantastic things. In a lot of incarnations, his small-town upbringing and idealism act as the perfect balance to Lois' streetwise cynicism.²* From ''Franchise/TheFlash'':²** The modern interpretations of Iris West (former Lois Lane Expy) is this to Barry Allen (the Flash II), who is nerdy and awkward. She initially only uses him as her source within the CCPD, but does grow fond of him. In a realistic nod, she's also depicted as a caffeine addict.²** Wally West (the Flash III) is this to his wife, Linda Park. When they first met, he was a cocky idiot and she was an uptight news reporter. As time went on, she learned to have more fun with life and he became more mature and responsible.²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Comic Strips]]²* Bridget is like this in ''ComicStrip/MyCage''. Although the other main characters are generally too cynical and depressed for her to have more than a temporary effect.²-->'''Norm:''' You are like dating a cartoon elf sometimes.²* In ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', Sally tries to be this towards Linus, but he's quick to remind her that [[ShesNotMyGirlfriend he is NOT her sweet babboo]].²-->'''Sally:''' What does he know?[[note]]Said in a series of strips where she tries to give him a Valentine's Day card.[[/note]]²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Fan Works]]²* Nymphadora Tonks of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series usually fills this in fanfiction. She's a clumsy metamorphmagus (meaning that she can change her appearance at will, for example she's usually seen with pink hair), who wears band t-shirts and has more humor than most of the cast. She's often paired with a character the author feels needs to loosen up (Lupin, Harry, Moody, etc.).²* ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/396446/chapters/651828 Frozen Flame]]'':²** [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist Edward Elric]] to Alfons Heiderich. Edward majorly shook up Alfons' dull life with his determination, devil-may-care attitude and refusal to believe anything without proof and helped Alfons' rocket program take off. In fact Edward shakes up Alfons' life so much that when given the choice to go to Amestris with him, Alfons jumps at the chance without a second thought. Although the dark side of the trope is lampshaded when Alter!Hughes warns Alfons how dangerous Edward could be, so focused on his own goals that he ignores the possible fatal consequences. ²** In the same story, Alphonse Elric to Roy Mustang. Alphonse shakes Roy out of his disillusioned funk in his self-exile and gets him to live life again. Although Alphonse does this for selfish reasons: he wanted to learn Flame Alchemy from Roy, learn who his brother was from the [[SlashFic man that loved him]] [[spoiler:and learn how to [[BrotherSisterIncest seduce Edward for himself]]]].²* ''FanFic/AtGatesEdge'':²** Despite being a [[CuteGhostGirl ghost]], Edward is an inversion to Roy Mustang. Edward's presence acts as an anchoring force in Roy's life, causing him to take things more seriously, work harder, take his duties more seriously and be more honest to himself and others. When Roy falls in love with him, he reevaluates [[AnythingThatMoves his promiscuous lifestyle]] and considers giving it up to be faithful to Ed. ²** Roy plays this straight to Edward. Roy shakes Edward out of his dull afterlife of haunting Roy's office and pulls him into a life of excitement, conspiracy and adventure along with helping Edward tie loose ends with his old life.²* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/76159/the-golden-armor The Golden Armor]]'':²** Angel Beats is the Manic Pixie Mare in this ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic, slowly defrosting the stone faced pegasus Comet Burst through the expedient of being the most annoying thing in his life. She fulfill all the signs of the trope, she is full of energy, never stops talking, keeps hitting on him (metaphorically and literally as well) and instead of a wild hair color (that's not very singular in the show) she's a Bat Pony, a rare breed of pony. For some reason the superiors in the Royal Guard of Equestria think it's good to keep them together, and he slowly begin the standard routine of falling in love with a Manic Pixie Girl. ²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Films -- Animation]]²* {{Gender Inverted|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' with Danny trying to motivate Sawyer to go after her dreams.²* Ellie in ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}.'' Interesting in that she only shows up in the prologue as Carl's beloved (deceased) wife. She is a catalyst for the movie's action, as Carl takes off for Paradise Falls in order to posthumously fulfill his promise to her.²* Wyldstyle in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' is a satire of the MPDG. She's introduced as a quirky super-skilled ActionGirl who rescues the boring average male [[TheChosenOne Special]], but it becomes clear that she doesn't like being in that role. She sought out [[MacGuffin the Piece of Resistance]] because she wanted to be the Special, her made up name and odd fashion sense come out of insecurity and trying too hard to be unique, and she thinks of Emmet as a useless [[TheLoad Load]] who is not living up to his title at all. She and Emmet eventually warm up to each other, [[spoiler:and before Emmet dies he commissions her to become the Special after him]].²* The main purpose of Penny Peterson in ''WesternAnimation/MrPeabodyAndSherman'', and promoted as such [[note]][[PlayingWithATrope although that doesn't stop her from being an]] AcademicAlphaBitch at first[[/note]]: A BlitheSpirit taking a 360 turn on boy genius Sherman's life, leading him to do things by himself for the first time, like flying Da Vinci's prototype and falling in love. While Mr. Peabody is quite annoyed by the presence of a MPDG turning his son "into a hooligan" (which leads Sherman to call him out), this ends up being rather helpful [[spoiler:as she helps him to come to terms with his relations with Mr. Peabody, who ends up asking their help to fix a paradox]].²* Poppy in ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'' plays with the trope. She definitely fits the personality type, especially and she fills a platonic version of the plot to Bridget (who's ironically voiced by Zooey Deschanel) -- convincing her to pursue the man she loves. But then again ''all'' the trolls are like that and although Poppy eventually does get the cynical Branch to liven up -- she only ropes him into her scheme because she needs his help rescuing her friends. [[spoiler:And it's Branch who ends up saving Poppy from her DespairEventHorizon.]]²* In ''Animation/TheReturnOfHanuman'', Hanuman reincarnates himself into a boy named Maruti. Later, he helps Minku, a poor boy who is frequently bullied by most of his classmates. It makes sense why he acts so bubbly: [[YoungerThanTheyLook he's only three months old]]. By the end of the film, Maruti ([[spoiler:already transformed into Hanuman]]) told Minku to be strong before left the village.²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]²* Muriel Pritchett (Creator/GeenaDavis) in ''Film/TheAccidentalTourist'' plays a quirky dog trainer who helps both the dog and his owner, Macon Leary (William Hurt), a repressed and grieving travel writer who is mourning the death of his son and his marriage. Upon meeting Muriel, Macon's life changes in ways he comes to view as healing. However, in the novel, Muriel is more [[UsefulNotes/BipolarDisorder manic-depressive]] -- she sometimes becomes moody and sour, even neglecting her son.²* In ''Film/{{Adam}}'', both Adam and Beth have elements of this towards each other. The story is about a young teacher dating a young man with UsefulNotes/{{Autism}} in Manhattan. [[spoiler:The story ends [[DidNotGetTheGirl with the two breaking up]], but it is a BittersweetEnding because the two have gained a greater understanding from each other: Beth writes a book on her experience, and Adam seems more socially adjusted and happier in his new job.]]²* Creator/AmyAdams played a lot of these earlier in her career:²** Giselle from ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', who has the excuse of being a [[RefugeeFromTVLand fairy tale character]] who suddenly fell into Robert's life. [[DefrostingIceQueen She helps him loosen up]], and even helps him with his relationship, only to end up falling for him. For his part, Robert helps her find some firmer ground.²** Delysia Lafosse to uptight British governess Miss Pettigrew in ''Film/MissPettigrewLivesForADay'', although there's a bit of sharing going on and Delysia actually matures because of Miss Pettigrew as well.²** Amelia Earhart in ''Film/NightAtTheMuseumBattleOfTheSmithsonian'' plays this trope down to the letter for the main character, Larry. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in that Larry doesn't undergo any real changes after spending time with her, she's just there to act as a {{foil}} to his more reserved personality.²* Elise in ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau'' has the quirky personality of the MPDG down pat -- she meets the hero in the men's washroom when she is hiding from security from having crashed a wedding, and later drops his phone into his coffee to stop him talking to his assistant -- but her role in the story is an aversion and possibly even a deconstruction. Not only does she have her own dreams of becoming a top ballet dancer, but she spends much of the movie independently pursuing them while the protagonist (who is far from boring or emotionless) spends most of his time pursuing ''her''. The deconstruction comes in when the titular agency suggests that her influence on David is only good for him in small doses. The washroom encounter inspires him to ditch a pre-written speech and make an improvised one about how his media appearance is all calculated and artificial, getting him a popular reputation as a man of the people. An agent of the Bureau claims that it was meant to be a one-off encounter, and that if he continued to be with her, her influence would encourage him to make increasingly reckless decisions that would eventually cost him his political career.²* Subverted in Martin Scorsese's black comedy ''Film/AfterHours''. The girl the hero meets at the start turns out to be seriously disturbed [[spoiler:and kills herself halfway through the movie]].²* Although all of the Band-Aids are trying for this, Penny Lane is clearly ''the'' Manic Pixie Dream Girl of ''Film/AlmostFamous''. Though she avoids the stereotypical MPDG ending (dead or with the guy) -- she ''almost'' dies of an overdose, only to be saved by William, then breaks it off with Russell to go live her own MPDG life in Morocco without either love interest. But, of course, in doing all this she shows Russell the error of his ways so that he can make things right with William, helping both of them toward stardom. This is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype, as Penny has her own inner life and emotional arc despite hitting many MPDG notes.²* The eponymous main character of ''Film/{{Amelie}}'' with her naive and [[AmbiguousDisorder seemingly autistic]] view of the world. She doesn't really have any goals beside helping others and later get her man. Somewhat oddly, Creator/JeanPierreJeunet named Amelie after Creator/EmilyWatson, because he saw similarities between her and Watson's character Bess in ''Film/BreakingTheWaves''. To anyone who's seen that movie, that may seem... strange, but Bess certainly can be seen as a dark subversion of the MPDG archetype. ²* Creator/JenniferAniston seems to play a lot of these roles.²** In ''Film/AlongCamePolly'', Aniston plays Polly Prince, a free-spirited bohemian who teaches Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) to be unafraid and live life to the fullest.²** She plays a quirky flower-shop owner in ''Film/LoveHappens'' teaching Aaron Eckhart how to love again and heal after his wife's death.²* A DeconstructedCharacterArchetype in Creator/WoodyAllen's 1977 film ''Film/AnnieHall''. The title character is a cheerful Bohemian, who turns out to be a spoiled, unfocused, pseudointellectual, neurotic child in an adult's body; a horribly broken person. Which gives her something in common with Woody Allen's character, who is likewise horribly broken, just in somewhat different ways. At the end of the movie, it turns out that Alvy was something of a Manic Pixie Dream ''Guy'' for Annie, in terms of teaching her how to have more confidence in her abilities and helping her to improve her own life, while most of ''his'' problems remain unsolved.²* Creator/WinonaRyder's character Charlotte in ''Film/AutumnInNewYork'' is a beautiful artist who suffers from [[IllGirl a rare heart disease]], and teaches a self-centered, skirt-chasing Creator/RichardGere about life and love. ²* ''Film/{{Barefoot}}'' takes this a step beyond with the pair-up of dour, debt-owing Jay and carefree WomanChild Daisy, who, yes, DoesNotLikeShoes and blurts out things like "I have to go potty" and "My mom told me driving gets you pregnant." How is it taken a step beyond? Daisy is ''actually from a mental institution''.²* ''Film/BenX'' has Scarlite, a girl the autistic protagonist Ben plays with in an RPG who talks him out of suicide and inspires him to stand up to the bullying he endures at school. [[spoiler:It's subverted, however, by the Scarlite we see for most of the film turning out to be an imaginary construct of Ben's mind.]]²* Another male variant is Sam in ''Film/BennyAndJoon'', and he affects ''two'' characters. Joon is a mentally-ill woman who falls for him as it comes to light that they understand each other in a way other people don't. Her brother Benny, who's taken care of her all these years, is the uptight character wary of her getting involved with someone else, and has to accept that he's not only being overprotective but also neglecting his personal happiness by worrying so much.²* In ''Film/BetterOffDead'', Monique plays this role for Lane, helping pull him out of his depression after his girlfriend dumps him.²* Sam Rockwell plays the buddy-movie equivalent in ''Film/BoxOfMoonlight''. He wears a Davy Crockett costume and teaches John Turturro to love life; while there's no romance, there's certainly [[HoYay a lot of naked swimming]].²* In ''Film/BreakfastAtTiffanys'' Creator/AudreyHepburn plays the quirky, wild child of a neighbor. However, the protagonist eventually tells her to get over herself.²* Creator/KatharineHepburn as a scatter-brained heiress who loosens up Cary Grant in ''Film/BringingUpBaby''. As this was an early movie ScrewballComedy, Hepburn may be the {{Trope Maker|s}} for this medium. [[UnbuiltTrope Although she doesn't insinuate herself into his life so much as yank him bodily into hers.]]²* Another gender-flipped example, Rhodes is this to Annie in ''Film/{{Bridesmaids}}''. His main function in the plot is to make kooky observations about vegetables and encourage Annie to follow her dreams. It's a slightly more nuanced example than most: his biggest romantic gesture is presented as (at best) well-meaning but tone-deaf, and while he encourages her to follow her dreams (by returning to her love of baking and dream of owning a business), he also encourages her to deal with the mundane realities of her life (by fixing her tail light). She also repeatedly tells him that she doesn't need him to "fix" her.²* Annie Savoy in ''Film/BullDurham'' is sort of consciously a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She really loves the Durham Bulls, and she knows so much about both baseball and the finer things in life that when she dates a player (she picks one per season) he has the best year of his career. She has a lot of fun with a bunch of strapping young men, helps the team improve at the same time, and makes no apologies for it.²* Subverted with ''Film/{{Cabaret}}'''s Sally Bowles, who demonstrates just how messed up this kind of character tends to be in real life. She and Brian have a lot of fun at first but it's soon illustrated that she loves her partying lifestyle too much [[spoiler:and she aborts their baby because she doesn't think she's mother material]]. The last scene of the film has her performing a number that implies she's going to continue a life of fun and frivolity -- [[spoiler:but the crowd is full of Nazi officers, implying Sally's fun won't last too long]].²* Dylan Morgan in ''Film/CasAndDylan'' is a wannabe writer--as well as a chronic liar, compulsive shoplifter, and general-purpose motormouth who bums a cross-country car ride with Cas Pepper, a widowed doctor [[spoiler:who is dying of an inoperable brain tumor]]. Although Dylan spends three-quarters of the film driving Cas crazy and/or upending his life, a friendship eventually blossoms between the two. [[spoiler:Subverted in that not only is there no romance between the two, Cas also goes through with his plan to end his life--yet ends up enriching ''Dylan's'' life by leaving her all his earthly possessions.]]²* ''Film/ChungkingExpress'', features Faye the "California Dreamin'"-obsessed snack bar girl: to help a police officer get over his breakup with a flight attendant, she frequently breaks into (and floods) his apartment, switches the labels on all his canned foods, and rearranges his furniture. [[spoiler:Eventually, he falls for her, but she stands him up and decides to "see the world" by becoming -- yes -- a flight attendant. But don't worry: everything works out okay.]]²* Molly, played by Emily Mortimer, in ''Film/CityIsland'', is the catalyst to resolve the dysfunctional family's problems, but her own are not touched on until near the end of the film or resolved during its course, though one could optimistically interpret the manner of her self-effacing withdrawal from the action as her taking the first step towards doing so.²* Cluny in ''Film/ClunyBrown'' has an unusual love of plumbing, enriches the lives of others when she's around, and is rather confused about social orders, especially in the very StiffUpperLip house she goes to live in as a maid.²%% * ''Film/CrocodileDundee'': Mick may be considered a hypermasculine SpearCounterpart for Sue Charlton.²* ''Daddy Issues'' is what happens when two Manic Pixie Dream Girls fall in love with [[QueerRomance each other.]]²* {{Defied|Trope}} ''hard'' in ''Daydream Nation'' when Caroline finds out her [[HotForStudent teacher/lover]] has written a very thinly-disguised story about her being this trope and is understandably Squicked out at being put on a pedestal and dehumanized like that as she readily admits her own issues and how pathetic he is.²* Creator/ZooeyDeschanel is often identified with this character type in general, although many of her other roles play with the trope rather than serve it up straight.²** Allison from the Creator/JimCarrey film ''Film/YesMan'' is a subversion. Her quirky hobbies are entirely for herself, and she's pretty horrified at the idea of just being a tool for Carl's happiness. She also calls him out when he tells her that she's so fearless, and explains that of course she has her own fears, and that she's also perfectly happy living her life without him.²** Her title character in ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'' is a subversion as she doesn't want a steady relationship, pulls out hints of WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove, and at the end, [[spoiler:she falls in love with and gets married to someone else]].²** Inverted in ''Film/{{Elf}}'', where her character is the jaded, closed-off girlfriend of Will Ferrell's eponymous Manic Pixie Dream Guy.²** She plays the role completely straight in the Hollywood film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', in which her character was PromotedToLoveInterest.²* [[TropeNamers Coined]] by Creator/NathanRabin of [[Website/TheOnion The Onion AV Club]] in [[http://www.avclub.com/article/the-bataan-death-march-of-whimsy-case-file-1-emeli-15577 a retrospective review]] of ''Film/{{Elizabethtown}}'', which features Creator/KirstenDunst playing such a character, and further expanded on in their [[http://www.avclub.com/article/wild-things-16-films-featuring-manic-pixie-dream-g-2407 list of famous Manic Pixie Dream Girls]]. Rabin defines a Manic Pixie Dream Girl as a character who ''"exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures"''. When Kirsten Dunst was asked about the term directly, [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/no-kirsten-dunst-does-not-like-the-term-manic-pixi,62833/ she didn't like it.]]²* Clementine in ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' is this type of character, though the relationship [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype plays out more realistically]]. She even references the "you complete me" line, to her distaste, from ''Film/JerryMaguire''. She also {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this to a certain degree, saying that Joel shouldn't expect her to "save" him, and that she's "just a fucked-up girl looking for her own peace of mind." Joel sums up her MPDG-ness and the film's deconstruction of it during his tape recording for Lacuna:²-->'''Joel:''' I think if there's a truly seductive quality about Clementine, it's that her personality promises to take you out of the mundane. It's like, you secure yourself with this amazing, burning meteorite to carry you to another world, a world where things are exciting. But, what you quickly learn is that it's really an elaborate ruse.²* Leeloo in ''Film/TheFifthElement'' is zany, tiny, and cute. She falls into Bruce Willis's lap and begins reshaping a life that was on a downward spiral through adventure and mayhem.²* ''Film/FightClub'':²** A truly disturbing example in the form of Marla Singer, who could perhaps best be described as what happens when the Manic Pixie Dream Girl grows up. Marla is dirty, living in poverty, and clearly suffering some form of mental illness, and gets into a fairly unhealthy relationship with Tyler. The narrator is dissatisfied with social norms and consumerist trends, but lacks the will to break out of the mold on his own, leading to his association with Tyler. Marla actually infuriates the narrator because she simply doesn't care about anything. She even calls him out on all his selfish justifications for his behavior being no worse or different than her own.²** In a way, the confident, flamboyant Tyler is also a MPDG to the uptight nameless narrator. There's a serious homoerotic subtext between them throughout the movie (less surprising when you realize that [[Creator/ChuckPalahniuk the author]] is gay). The narrator just drifts through life until Tyler shows up, and their relationship changes his life and his outlook forever. And then [[spoiler:you find out that Tyler was just the narrator's split personality all along. At the end, he kills "Tyler" off]].²* Sarah Lewis in ''Film/ForceOfNature'' is an older Manic Pixie Dream Girl who helps Ben Holmes, a blurb writer for hardcover book sleeves, come out of his shell. They sit next to other on an airplane that is struck by a bird and must land. He then travels with her across the country having free-sprited adventures on their way to Savannah, where he is going to get married and she is also headed. He learns to be a better person thanks to Sarah, but ends up getting married and leaving her behind.²* Back in the 90's ''Creator/BrendanFraser'' played a gender flipped version more than once:²** Adam from ''Film/BlastFromThePast'' has never interacted with anyone outside of his family for his whole thirty years of living. Upon entering the outside world he falls completely in love with Eve and shows her a new perspective on life and about love.²** Fletcher in ''Still Breathing (1997)'' is a sensitive artist who puts together rock sculptures and does puppetry for a living. After he begins to have visions of his one true love, he drops everything to go meet her and show her that true love is indeed real.²* Creator/NataliePortman's character in ''Film/GardenState''. A fantastic representation of this trope. The main character is a guy on anti-depressant and mood stabilizers, she's a bubble of quirk who floated into his life, who randomly shakes about like a kid at one point "doing something that's completely unique, that's never been done before" and advises him to laugh all the time. By the end, he's screaming into abysses and doing dramatic runs through airports in the name of love.²* Subverted with Enid from the movie version of ''ComicBook/GhostWorld'': told from the perspective of a sarcastic teen girl as she teaches Seymour, a shy, obsessive older man how to take chances and enjoy living; of course this [[spoiler:destroys his life. Enid leaves to build her own life somewhere else. Seymour ends up in therapy]].²* Stella from ''Film/GideonsDaughter'' is a middle-aged Manic Pixie Dream Girl for the film's brooding middle-aged hero. Though Stella has her own issues and isn't a chirpy twentysomething, she basically exists so Gideon can enjoy life again.²* The eponymous character of ''Film/{{The Girl Next Door|2004}}'' gets the hero, Matthew Kidman, off of his overachieving ass to loosen up and have some fun for once in his life. She does at least have her own ambitions in life -- namely to put her porn star roots behind her.²-->[[CatchPhrase "What's the craziest thing you've done lately?"]]²%%* The indie film ''Film/GoodDick'' has a male version of this trope.²* Monsieur Gustave in ''Film/TheGrandBudapestHotel'' is an older, non-romantic, same-gender variation to Zero Moustafa. He's a quirky, charming hotel concierge who [[BornInTheWrongCentury acts like he just walked out from a wormhole to the Victorian era]], and has numerous eccentric habits including art theft and sleeping with [[LikesOlderWomen MUCH older women]]. He hires Zero to work at the eponymous Hotel, and quickly becomes his best friend and the closest thing he has to a family member after all his blood relatives were massacred in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, all the while teaching Zero the hotel trade and ushering him into the best years of his life. He also fits the darker permutation of this character type as his eccentricities mask numerous insecurities, particularly the fact that he knows his time will soon come to an end with the impending specter of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, [[spoiler:and sure enough, as soon as he's finished teaching Zero everything he knows, he's promptly killed off, leaving Zero to impart what he's learned to the next generation in the form of the film's narrator]]. ²* Played with in ''Film/HappyGoLucky''. The main character, Poppy, is a free-spirited extreme optimist who starts taking driving lessons from an uptight, closed-off pessimist [[spoiler:who develops a crush on her]]. Subverted [[spoiler:in that she doesn't return the feelings, and stops the driving lessons so they won't see each other again after he lampshades this trope with a rant about how selfish it is -- even if she ultimately doesn't fit the trope, no one could convince him differently]].²* Maude in ''Film/HaroldAndMaude'' is an unusual example in that she's about 60 years older than the man. A vivacious, eccentric and well-traveled woman, she teaches Harold to live life to the fullest and get over his morbid obsession with death.²%% * Creator/GoldieHawn played this type in ''Cactus Flower'' (1969) and ''Butterflies Are Free'' (1972).²* ''Film/HeavenlyCreatures'' is a darkly subverted lesbian version -- wild, eccentric Juliet inspires shy Pauline not to embrace life, but to [[spoiler:murder her mother]].²* ''Film/{{Her}}'': Theodore's ex-wife accuses him of wanting her to be that way, a happy object to balance out his dour, brooding self, and suggests he's dating a computer because she's less complicated than a real woman. Samantha, his new computer/girlfriend, expresses the same opinion and tells Theodore she's tired of acting the way he wants her to act.²* Heather Graham's character Mandy in 2003 film ''Film/HopeSprings'' brings meaning back to life, with her free-spirited American ways (becoming the new love interest), of her opposite: broody, just-dumped British male lead Colin, played by Colin Firth. ²* April in ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine''. Played surprisingly straight, she just appears in Adam's life, fixates on him (particularly odd, since she's apparently an established music journalist and Adam's a teenager), takes him out of the dull funk that he's in, and even engages in some low-level breaking and entering for the sake of romance.²* In ''Film/TheHouseOfYes'', the main character is a part of a wealthy BigScrewedUpFamily and has a few issues of his own to work out. He does this by dating a ditzy, middle class girl with a cheerful demeanor.²* Kevin Franklin is a male example of this in ''Film/{{Houseguest}}''. Franklin however, is only a ConMan who (at least at first) doesn't care about improving the lives of the people he meets, but ends up doing so anyway.²* Gwen Phillips in ''Film/{{Housesitter}}'', a con artist and a pathological liar, plays this role for Newton Davis, played by Steve Martin. He's almost as crazy as she is. They're kind of Manic Pixie Dream people to each other.²* An early example is in 1968's ''I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!'' (included in the A.V. Club list). Straitlaced Harold Fine, already feeling dissatisfied with life, encounters Nancy, the friend of his hippie little brother, and lets her spend the night at his apartment. As thanks, she makes him pot brownies, though he doesn't realize what they are until he's consumed them. Loosened up, he goes to thank her and they ultimately become lovers. Harold becomes a [[RunawayBride Runaway Groom]] to both be with Nancy and fully embrace the hippie lifestyle. But after the initial bliss, the existence and his relationship with her proves as unfulfilling and superficial as his old life was. In the end he chooses to TakeAThirdOption and find his own path to happiness alone.²* Subverted in ''Film/ILoveYouBethCooper''. Although Beth Cooper's character does have a lot of these qualities, [[spoiler:she's actually very insecure and the protagonist ends up changing ''her'' outlook on life simply by showing her that she has a lot more potential than she's giving herself credit for]].²* The whole point of the movie ''Film/ILoveYouMan''. Where Peter Klaven's repressed real estate agent is taught how to live life by the maniac pixie dream guy Sydney Fife.²* Geet in the 2007 UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} film ''Bollywood/JabWeMet'' -- childlike and wacky to the point where the male lead, a weary businessman, says she "needs a psychiatrist," until she brings him out of his shell. And then, some plot later, he becomes a Manic Pixie Dream Guy for her.²* Subverted by Catherine in ''Film/JulesAndJim.'' Compelling as she is, Catherine's joie-de-vivre comes hand in hand with bipolar tendencies, selfishness, and a constant sense of discontent. She's a whirlwind of energy, and instead of that being a positive force, she sort of just ends up imploding in on herself. The questionable aspects of her behavior escalate until she [[spoiler:kills herself and Jim by driving them off a bridge in her car out of a mixture of depression and sheer whimsy]].²* ''{{Film/Juno}}'' was unintentionally this for Mark Loring, much to her dismay. Sort of reversed though with Paulie Bleeker- she may be the quirkier of the two but he was the one who opened her cynical heart.²* Gender-reversed in the UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} movie ''Bollywood/KalHoNaaHo'': Naina is an overstressed MBA student who doesn't believe in the power of love. Then wacky romantic Aman comes to her neighborhood and teaches her to enjoy life.²* ''Film/KillingZoe'' features a Manic Pixie Dream Girl caught in the middle of a bank heist. She eventually gets a machine gun. Death ensues.²* Creator/MilaKunis' character in ''Moving [=McAllister=]'' is an unabashed example of this trope, described by her uncle as very beautiful and "wild" she is bent upon turning the boring lawyer she just met into someone who loves life. Kunis' character in ''Film/ForgettingSarahMarshall'' is also a straight MPDG.²* Creator/SarahJessicaParker's character [=SanDeE=] from ''Film/LAStory'' (1991) starring and written by Steve Martin. Although [=SanDeE=] is a bit more nuanced take on the character. She is a classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but the movie portrays a relationship with her as shallow and self-indulgent for Martin's character. He is better paired with the quirky British woman.²* Double-subverted ''twice'' in the Barbara Stanwyck comedy ''Film/TheLadyEve.'' So Jeanne brightens up the life of stiff, repressed Charles (or "Hopsie") -- but the fact is that she's a con woman who wants to take his money. But then, she's also in love with him, and is willing to go straight for his sake. Then when he finds out and rejects her, she takes on the persona of the Lady Eve, and pulls the MPDG on him ''again.''²* ''Film/LarryCrowne'': Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) personifies this trope to the point where Mercedes Tainot (Creator/JuliaRoberts) even refers to her as a pixie. The only area where she breaks the stereotype is that she has no romantic interest in Larry (Tom Hanks) and her efforts are aimed at getting him together with Mercedes.²%%* Kim, played by Creator/RachelBilson in ''Film/TheLastKiss'' is an obvious example.²* Creator/JulietteLewis frequently played versions of this role early in her career. Played straight in ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape'' but, notably, a very dark subversion in ''Film/{{Kalifornia}}''. In the latter, she keeps a cactus in her purse and has done well when Early doesn't whip her. ²* In ''Film/{{Keith}}'', the titular character is a RareMaleExample. Natalie is the quintessential perfect high school student who has her whole life planned out for her, and Keith takes it upon himself to show her how to have fun through his bizarre, unconventional ideas of amusement. However, [[spoiler:he's dying, presumably of cancer, and he's just looking for one last thrill and decides to make it his mission to "have fun with her." Unfortunately for him, he winds up falling in love with her, just as he's come to accept his imminent death]].²* Although she's more grounded and less 'out there' than the usual bizarre Dream Girls, Creator/LivTyler's character in ''Film/LonesomeJim'' is a warm and life-embracing character whose only purpose in the movie is to teach the self-absorbed, miserable main character to cheer up despite the audience wondering what the heck a woman like that would see in him.²* The Hallmark Channel movie ''Love at First Glance'' has a male version. It's explained that he learned to love life after encountering his own MPDG. After her tragic accident, he became a MPDB for other people. ²* The main character in ''Film/{{May}}'' doesn't remotely fit this stereotype but the art school Bohemian type who meets her seems to identify her as one. They shelve the movie in the Horror section, so you can gather things don't go well.²* The Creator/MarilynMonroe [[CelebrityImpersonator Impersonator]] for the Music/MichaelJackson Impersonator in ''Film/MisterLonely''.²* Little Bo Peep is this in ''Film/MotherGooseRockNRhyme'', a Disney Channel movie from the early 90s. Driving backwards through the patchwork landscape, she teaches the OnlySaneMan in MotherGoose Land, Mother Goose's son Gordon Gander, to relax and enjoy life. [[spoiler:He's so dull because he's incomplete. Mother Goose couldn't find a rhyme for Gordon]].²* The eponymous ''Mr Jones (1993)'' is a male [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype deconstruction]], since he has literal bipolar disorder, but does somewhat enrich the female lead's life when in his manic phase.²* Molly in ''Film/MrMagoriumsWonderEmporium''. Though the romantic element of their relationship is downplayed, she helps the new accountant Henry learn not to take himself too seriously, with the assistance of frequent customer, Eric.²* ''Film/MySassyGirl'':²** The trailer shows Elisha Cuthbert playing a version of this. However, instead of simply being "quirky," she is portrayed as being AxCrazy, in that she may very well ''kill'' the protagonist for a lark.²** In the original Korean movie, Cuthbert-equivalent's character's "quirky antics" tend to have harmful consequences, but the protagonist falls for her anyway and she does indeed teach him to live and love. However, she definitely has issues and motivations unrelated to her man, and it turns out that she's been [[spoiler:using him as [[ReplacementGoldfish a substitute for her dead fianc&eacute;]], who was the protagonist's cousin]]. Things end up [[BecomingTheMask working out]], though.²*** The original Korean movie arguably has the polar opposite moral to the classic MPDG movie. The male protagonists had been coasting through his college classes, basically being a slacker, until falling in love and realizing that real relationships were difficult, confusing, complex things actually gives him motivation to get his act together for the first time in his life. He goes from incompetent slacker to hard-working, composed, goal-oriented young man. It's about him learning to be serious rather than learning to cut loose. Furthermore, what draws him to the girl is, not her 'free spirit' -- which he actually find off-putting; rather it his recognition that she is 'damaged' and a strong desire to fix her. Which is just one of several ways the film mocks gender expectations by having the male lead take the stereotypically female role. (It's usually the girl who wants to heal the wounded bad boy, after all.)²* In ''Film/TheNamesOfLove'', straitlaced Arthur is yanked out of his boring life by the younger, free-spirited, free-loving Baya, who's so manic she occasionally forgets to put clothes on when going out of her flat.²* The 2009 ultra-low-budget independent film ''Film/NewLow'' is a subversion -- Vicky is a bigger jerk than the [[ThisLoserIsYou loser]] AuthorAvatar protagonist Wendell, while Joanna ''would'' be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl were Wendell not a complete idiot as well.²* ''Film/NoStringsAttached'' has a gender-inverted example with Adam, the Manic Pixie Dream Guy -- a goofy, romantic MrFanService, who helps {{Adorkable}}, [[TheCynic cynical]] GoGetterGirl Emma [[DefrostingIceQueen get over her]] CommitmentIssues. ²* The Evangelical Christian film ''Old Fashioned'' is a {{subver|tedTrope}}sion. Quirky, free-spirited Amber fits the trope to a T; but in the end [[spoiler:it is the somber, self-hating Clay who shows her that relationships have responsibilities, and life is not all about the "[[BuffySpeak warm and fuzzies]]]]." ²* ''Film/OtherHalves'' has a male variation in Mike, who's described as a "sexy chore listen man."²* The eponymous Rory O'Shea in ''Film/RoryOSheaWasHere'' with regards to the care home he's put into. He convinces the protagonist Michael, a man with cerebral palsy, to be rebellious and live life to the full. It's he who gets Michael out of the prison-like care home and into a nice apartment. Of course he's also called out for a lot of his {{Jerkass}} behaviour, and he is partially motivated out of his own self interest. ²* Two gender-flipped examples play this straight in the Mo'Nique led film ''Film/PhatGirlz.'' Dr. Tunde and Dr. Akibo are two Nigerian men that teach the plus-sized leads to embrace their bodies and sensuality. Even to start loving themselves and changing their outlook.²* Joan in ''Film/PlayingByHeart'' is one, but her relationship with Keenan plays out a bit more balanced than is usual for the trope. She certainly teaches him to embrace love and life again, but he's also more mature than her usual boyfriends, giving her some much-needed stability.²* Jordan in ''Film/RealGenius'' lives somewhere between here and [[CloudCuckooLander Cloudcuckooland]]. Although she's not the primary motivator for Mitch's lightening up, she does become his {{Love Interest|s}}.²* Despite being the trope image, Princess Ann from ''Film/RomanHoliday'' is not an example. The story revolves around her escaping her stuffy, depressing life of royalty. Joe is actually the guy who brings her on adventures around Rome.²* In ''Film/RubySparks'', all of Calvin's written/dreamed interactions with Ruby play out like this. Once she's real, [[spoiler:their relationship becomes a {{Deconstruction}}]].²-->'''Harry:''' Quirky, messy women whose problems only make them endearing are not real.²** Zoe Kazan, the film's writer and lead actress, [[WordOfGod has said]] that she strongly dislikes the term and sees it as a sexist way to unfairly pigeonhole women with eccentric personalities into a simplistic archetype.²* Ramona from the film adaptation of ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'', ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'', by way of squeezing the film into two hours (and removing quite a bit of characterisation present during the lulls of the comic). Scott still has to do a bit more work to keep her around than in most examples, though.²* Present in ''Film/SeekingAFriendForTheEndOfTheWorld'' with Penny -- where she's quirky, ditzy and eventually [[spoiler:makes the protagonist realise that he should be with her and not his old high school flame]]. But Penny has her own motivations in the story and spends most of it being a ShipperOnDeck for Dodge and Olivia. [[spoiler:The film ends with an asteroid crashing into the Earth, killing everyone, so it's unknown if the relationship could have lasted.]]²* Played with in interesting ways in ''{{Film/Shadowlands}}''. While Joy Gresham takes on the narrative role of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (drawing a scholarly, reserved Creator/CSLewis out of his shell, getting him to enjoy life [[spoiler:...and then she dies]]), her actual personality is more that of a {{Tsundere}} -- to the intense displeasure of Lewis's friends.²* The first half of ''Film/SomethingWild'' seems to be all about this trope when free-spirited Lulu sweeps into the life of Charles Driggs and "kidnaps" him for a weekend of unplanned adventure. However, [[spoiler:the movie undergoes a wild MoodWhiplash when Lulu (whose real name is Audrey Hankel) and Charles encounter her very violent ex-con ex-husband; by the end, Audrey/Lulu is as much changed by her time with Charles as Charles himself]].²* A DeconstructedCharacterArchetype in the 1969 film ''Film/TheSterileCuckoo'', one of Liza Minelli's early films. Pookie fulfills all of the requirements of a MPDG, including breaking the lead character out of his shell. But towards the end of the film is revealed she is much more damaged and vulnerable than anyone has expected. She completely breaks out of the traditional mold at the ending, where [[spoiler:she and her boyfriend break up, and she is literally PutOnABus]].²* Ana from ''Film/StrangerThanFiction''. She isn't what convinces the protagonist to start living life again, but she certainly shows him how.²* One of the all-time classics of Hollywood is an extremely dark but one hundred percent straight use of this trope, in which an eccentric, aging beauty queen, whose grip on reality is shaky, takes over the protagonist's life, using money and her luxurious life to tighten her hold on him. The character is Norma Desmond; the film is ''Film/SunsetBoulevard.''²* Norah in ''Film/SunshineCleaning'' looks like she's trying to be this for Lynn -- inviting her to wild parties and trying to encourage her to loosen up. But Norah herself is the one with the real baggage -- as she's never got over her mother's death. Lynn also [[spoiler:breaks things off with her before the end of the film]].²* Nelson (Creator/KeanuReeves) meets Sara (Creator/CharlizeTheron), the woman who "defy every law of nature he's ever known", in the 2001 Drama ''Film/SweetNovember''. Stumbling into her life, Nelson soon realizes Sara lives a lifestyle of voluntarily taking men under her wing to "change their lives for the better" in one way or another (MPDG for a living, if you will). So Sara asks Nelson (whose one and only concern in life is himself): "Do you want to be my November?" The rules are: no questions, no holding back, and no more and no less than ONE month.²* In the Mexican film "Te presento a Laura" (Let me introduce you to Laura) Creator/MarthaHigareda plays the title character, a quirky girl who finds out she is about to die, and joins a group of optimistic misfits to embrace life to the fullest and discover ten things that would give her life meaning. ²%% * Marion in ''Film/TheresAGirlInMySoup''.²* Betty Blue from the French movie ''[[Film/BettyBlue 37&deg;2 le matin]]''. To quote the [=IMDb=] summary: "[The lead character] lives a quiet and peaceful life, working diligently and writing in his spare time. One day, Betty walks into his life, a young woman who is as beautiful as she is wild and unpredictable...". The trope is, however, deconstructed, as Betty is not quite right in the head.²* Jack from ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' is a rare case of a male spin of this trope. Rose was feeling cold and alone in high society, when Jack comes along and teaches her to be free-spirited and live life. Rose's narration describes him as saving her in every way a person can be saved. ²* ''Film/{{Waitress}}'' has a SpearCounterpart, Nathan Fillion plays Keri Russell's ridiculously convenient and personality-lite bit-on-the-side, otherwise fulfilling all the typical criteria of the MPDG. Interestingly enough, the main character fulfills this trope in the lives of just about everyone around her, if you were to write a film centering on Nathan Fillion's character, or Adrienne Shelly's character, or Jeremy Sisto's character, it's exactly the role she would play (though in the last case it would be ''very'' bluntly subverted).²* ''Film/WatchingTheDetectives'' is basically about what happens when Manic Pixie Dream People get together. The main character Neil is a Manic Pixie Dream Guy who aggravates everyone with his strange antics and quirks, but then Violet comes along and out-Manic-Pixies him by taking the reckless and unusual behaviour to quite troubling extremes.²* Judy Maxwell, played by Music/BarbraStreisand in ''Film/WhatsUpDoc'' (1972). Her character enters the life of musicologist Howard Bannister during his trip to San Francisco, and turns his world (not to mention that of several other people) upside down when she impersonates his fianc&eacute;e and leads a cast of characters on a madcap chase around on the city.²* ''Film/YouthInRevolt'' features Sheeni Saunders who helps Nick Twisp (Creator/MichaelCera) be free-spirited and leads him into a psychosis.²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Literature]]²* Creator/{{Dante|Alighieri}}:²** OlderThanPrint, thanks to the ''Literature/VitaNuova''. Beatrice is the most loving, humble, and beautiful woman in the world, so Dante dedicates his whole life to her despite talking to her once before her death. We don't hear much from her or learn what she does with her life and instead only learn about her through her affects on the male lead.²** In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', Dante has lost his way in life until Beatrice comes down from Heaven to send her lover on the right track through a bizarre journey through the afterlife. The poem builds anticipation for when Beatrice lovingly reunites with Dante, only to [[UnbuiltTrope unbuild]] the trope by having Beatrice coldly condemn her lover and make it clear that improving him is going to involve more harshness than manic glee.²* Daisy in Henry James's story ''Literature/DaisyMiller'' is the 1900s European aristocracy's version of the girlfriend from [[BizarroUniverse Planet Bizarro]].²* Fenchurch in ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'', although, really, she's probably the only woman on Earth weird enough to fall in love with [[UnfazedEveryman Arthur Dent]]. [[spoiler:And then she vanishes into an error in space-time.]]²* Colleen Minou in Ron Koertge's ''Stoner and Spaz''. However, while Colleen helps Ben, Ben is unable to help Colleen and [[spoiler:she ends up back on drugs]].²* The [[CharacterTitle title character]] of the Jerry Spinelli book ''Literature/{{Stargirl}}'' worked her magic on an entire high school. That also makes her a BlitheSpirit. Stargirl was interesting because her manic pixie behavior ''didn't'' make the main character more popular or comfortable around other people, and clashed with his desire for normalcy. [[spoiler:Things didn't work out]].²* Laura from ''Literature/AmericanGods'' reads like a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. Her husband, the protagonist Shadow, thought of her as someone playful and spontaneous who brought excitement into his life. On the other hand, she was the one who convinced him to participate in the robbery that got him sent to jail for three years and cheated on him with his best friend while he was in prison. She tried to justify her affair on the grounds that, even if she did really love Shadow, there were times that he was just so ''empty'' that she needed somebody else. She plays a further deconstruction when [[spoiler:after becoming a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie]], she helps Shadow by pretending to be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl having a MeetCute with one of the mooks. He is shown thinking about how her spontaneity has given him a new outlook on life, and is brutally murdered by her shortly afterward]].²* Nadja in Andre Breton's ''Literature/{{Nadja}}'' takes this to, and maybe a little bit past its LogicalExtreme -- Nadja is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl to the point that reality warps around her, and she goes on tirades that would be markers of straight-up insanity [[InsaneTrollLogic if you weren't reading the work of a surrealist]].²* Sage from ''Almost Perfect'' can be considered this from the moment she's introduced until [[spoiler:she tells Logan she's Transsexual]].²* The [[Literature/TheCulture Culture]] novel ''Literature/ThePlayerOfGames'' has a character, Yay, who is a love interest of the protagonist and has a markedly playful personality. She's something of a subversion, in that her Manic Pixie Dream Girl personality makes her a better fit for the hedonism of the Culture than does the protagonist's discomfort with a life without challenges.²* Repeatedly {{deconstruct|ion}}ed in [[Creator/JohnGreen John Green]]'s books. WordOfGod [[http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/post/41719790516/ confirms this]] and Green says he hates this trope played straight. He partly wrote ''Literature/PaperTowns'' to deconstruct this trope further out of concerns that he didn't do a thorough enough job of it with ''Literature/LookingForAlaska'' (which ''does'' deconstruct the trope, but in a different and arguably more abstract manner, and is primarily focused on death and suffering and how we individually figure out how to deal with their inevitable reality): that the people whom we idealize are in fact just as vulnerable, selfish, flawed, and self-destructive as anyone else, if not ''more so''.²** ''Literature/LookingForAlaska'': Alaska Young is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl told through the lens of someone who sees her as such. Through Miles ("Pudge")'s eyes, Alaska is a goddess, but she repeatedly shows warning signs of emotional instability and a DarkAndTroubledPast that he ignores due to it not fitting in with his idealized image of her. She calls him out on this, too, after an emotional meltdown at the end of Thanksgiving Break, pointing out to him that he likes the sexy HardDrinkingPartyGirl side of her and not the "crazy sullen bitch" she sees herself as. The point's only driven in further by [[spoiler:everything that Pudge discovers in the "After" Section of the book -- mainly that the self-destructive behaviors that Pudge and the others liked and encouraged in her led to her death]]. A principal point of the novel is that this trope is an unhealthy and unsustainable view of someone because it doesn't allow them to be a real person.²** ''Literature/PaperTowns'': Margo Roth Spiegelman embodies this trope, at first, having been Quentin's crush for all of his life and taking him on a pranking adventure at the beginning of the story. She's seen this way by most of the other kids at school as well, due to her frequent disappearances and similarly enigmatic behavior. Reliably, though, she's [[HiddenDepths not all that she seems]]. [[spoiler:The key point of the novel is Q's realization that her endearing and mysterious behavior is a fa&ccedil;ade she puts up to hide the fact that she's essentially a lonely, confused, and arguably flawed person who doesn't really know how to act normally. She puts on a StepfordSmiler front because she feels she has to -- it’s what people expect of her at this point and she feels that if she doesn't act in such a zany way, people will hurt her or grow bored of her]]. The final part of Q's journey is [[spoiler:understanding that she's a real person who isn't responsible for him and has her own problems and fears. He then lets her, and the dream of her, go]].²--->"She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl."²** ''Literature/AnAbundanceOfKatherines'': Colin [[MeaningfulName Single]][[UnfortunateNames ton]] is a boy who, out of insecurity and an ''inhuman'' level of [[IJustWantToHaveFriends lonel]][[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation iness]] and neediness, idealizes all of the girls in his life, leading him to be dumped by no less than ''seventeen'' of them. At the end, [[spoiler:he ends up together with Lindsey Lee Wells after realizing that seeking authenticity is more important than trying to come up with a complicated mathematical "theorem" to understanding and dating girls (as he had been trying to do for the majority of the story)]].²** ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'': Subverted with Augustus Waters, who presents himself as a Manic Pixie Dream ''Boy'' but later proves to be a normal, naive and vulnerable teenage boy. He professes his love to Hazel through contrived, rehearsed outings, complete with memorized "soliloquies" (monologues) and "metaphorically resonant" sandwiches, but the conviction of their love only feels "real" and "true" when the two of them see through the others' cracks during their trip to Amsterdam, especially after [[spoiler:he [[TheReveal reveals]] to her that he's terminally ill again]].²** ''Literature/WillGraysonWillGrayson'': "Tiny" Cooper is a [[IronicNickname huge]], FlamboyantGay football player who tries to become a Manic Pixie Dream Guy to [[{{Goth}} Will Grayson #2]]. [[spoiler:It doesn't work out]].²* Libba Bray's ''Literature/GoingBovine'' has Dulcie, who is a literal Manic Pixie Dream Girl: she's a hallucination who falls in love with the hero, dragging him through America on a quest to find meaning in his life before he [[spoiler:dies of mad cow disease (hence the title)]]. She smashes snowglobes to free their occupants and has a sugar addiction.²* The eponymous ''Literature/KikiStrike'', but replace "soulful, brooding male hero" with "broody, ordinary schoolgirl", and take out the romance component. She's actually the Manic Pixie Dream Girl for ''six'' different girls at once, but Ananka fits the trope best, being the most "normal" girl Kiki brings in. Later subverted when it's revealed that she [[spoiler:had ulterior motives for recruiting them in the first place and]] has her own problems and goals beyond the Irregulars and the Shadow City.²* In Creator/PhilipKDick's short story "The World She Wanted", the protagonist is swept along in the wake of a young and beautiful woman who introduces herself by announcing that the two of them are getting married. Subverted in that [[spoiler:she annoys the hell out of him and he rejects her]]. ²* Bella Baxter in Alasdair Grey's ''Poor Things'', whose carefree childlike manner mesmerizes a number of men. It's a disturbing example, because she has the brain of a child implanted into the body of a woman. [[MindScrew Or maybe not.]]²* Miss Rin, a mysterious and charismatic art teacher from ''The Magic of the Season'' by Sarah Bartash (published in the anthology ''Love is on the Wind''), becomes this for the lonely teacher Nathan Fishbrook. [[TricksterGirlfriend She repeatedly teases and plays tricks on him]], for instance, by [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane incinerating his Christmas list]].²* Vianne Rocher from the novel ''Film/{{Chocolat}}'' is this for an entire town. Zozie de l'Alba from the sequel ''The Lollipop Shoes'', acts as one for Vianne and [[spoiler:her daughters]] -- quirky, attractive, bohemian, she blows into the chocolate shop and shakes up their lives, bringing magic back to their craft. Of course, she's also [[spoiler:an identity-stealing witch who is more or less ParanoiaFuel incarnate]].²* The title character of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. Throughout the series Haruhi progressed from ChaoticNeutral (blackmailing the Computer Club President in the very first novel)who just wants to have fun to ChaoticGood (rushing over to Yuki's place in Beta storyline in the 9th novel), all the while irritating Kyon, who has to fix up the mess she inadvertently created (the Cave Cricket incident) or jump-start the events (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody). As for "soulful, brooding male hero", Kyon's more of TheSnarkKnight. He doesn't really have much of a choice, because not helping the three factions keep Haruhi in control could lead to the end of the world/universe.²* In ''Literature/{{Hyouka}}'', Chitanda is this to Oreki. Oreki always aims to do as little activity as possible. However, Chitanda will stare him down with wide-open eyes, tug on him, and say "I'm curious!" ("Kininarimasu!") until Oreki realises he will consume less energy by just answering her question.²* Arthur Bechstein, in Creator/MichaelChabon's ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfPittsburgh'' has two Manic Pixie Dream Individuals: a girl named Phlox and a guy named Arthur Lecomte. The two of them are constantly at odds with each other, something not helped by Art being head over heels for the both of them.²* In Chabon's ''Literature/TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay'', Rosa Sax is described like this in promotional materials and is introduced in a similar manner, but otherwise doesn't act the MPDG at all.²* According to [[http://jefferykrit.wordpress.com/2007/02/23/the-meaning-of-tarantella/ one interpretation]], Miranda from Creator/HilaireBelloc's poem "Tarantella" can be an example of this: a wild woman who falls for the protagonist and gives meaning to his life; so much, in fact, that later when she's gone, his life is devoid of meaning, and he probably commits suicide.²* Clarisse in Creator/RayBradbury's ''Literature/Fahrenheit451'' fills this role for a short time for Guy Montag. She basically tells him so, saying "I'm seventeen and I'm crazy," and then she asks him all the questions and tells him all the random thoughts necessary to make him rethink everything about his life. [[spoiler:And then she gets run over by a car, pointlessly.]]²* ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'':²** Anne has this effect on people, but not on everyone she meets, and in fact she undergoes great CharacterDevelopment over her first book as she learns to become a more grounded, mature, selfless individual.²** Furthermore, the Story Girl from ''The Story Girl'' counts, being the emotional core of her little group of friends, and constantly telling enchanting stories.²* Leslie from ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia,'' full stop, though she's a little too young for a romantic relationship with Jesse.²* Ivy Carson from Zilpha Keatley Snyder's ''Literature/TheChangeling'' is this for shy Martha Abbott. Ivy believes (or wants to) she ''is'' a pixie, or some kind of nymph or sprite, in human form. She leads Martha on adventures, getting into almost Abbott and Costello scrapes at age seven, ending in tragedy years later. Most important, she gives Martha an opportunity and environment to be herself, free of her family's expectations. Both are still alive at the end and ultimately get what they want, although it's an EsotericHappyEnding.²* Alice Somerfield of A.M. Holmes' ''The End of Alice'' is an example that might be controversial. For a twelve-year-old, she is wildly, uncomfortably sexually precocious (most likely not her fault), has an extensive and pretentious vocabulary and a manner of speech that is self-confessed as "affected," is sarcastic and beyond her years, has a knowledge of many varied and random subjects, claims to paint watercolor images on intimate places and watch them wash away in her baths, and copies famous poems onto the soles of her shoes.²* The novel ''[=Steppenwolf=]'' has Hermine, who not only gets the protagonist to enjoy life more, but actually saves him from killing himself.²* On the Quotes page is one from Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'' describing how stoic protagonist Elijah "Lije" Baley met his wife Jessie (short for "Jezebel"). Despite Jessie's speech, the two have drifted apart by the time of the story, mostly because of Lije unwittingly demolishing his wife's self-image by [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation trying to explain how the biblical Jezebel was a good person instead of]] TheVamp. The Spacer woman [[FemmeFatale Gladia Delmarre]] from the sequel ''Literature/TheNakedSun'' also shows some elements of this trope in how she tries to show the agoraphobic Baley how to be CloserToEarth.²* Midori from Haruki Murakami's novel ''Literature/NorwegianWood'' fits this role quite well. The first time she and Toru kiss, they are sitting on her roof, watching a neighborhood fire. Constantly hyper-energetic and quirky, she has no hesitation in revealing her constant sexual fantasies to Toru, who is much more distant and reserved with his inner thoughts.²* Stefanie in ''Literature/TheWordAndTheVoid'' is an interesting DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. She believes life should be lived to its fullest. She's in love with John Ross, for real. However, [[spoiler:she's also a demon, and her idea of teaching him to be interesting is teaching him to forget about morality and live for his own power, including, but not limited to, [[MoralEventHorizon eating homeless people]]]].²* Maggie Dempsey in ''How NOT to Be Popular'' by Jennifer Ziegler ends up like this, much to her annoyance. Her goal of coming off as weird and strange so that nobody would like her (and she wouldn't form attachments when she moved) had GoneHorriblyRight.²* Marion Kirby in ''Topper'' and ''Topper Takes a Trip'' by Thorne Smith as she drags Cosmo Topper out of his staid banker's existence. However, it is a subversion as Marion is a ghost and acts in concert with her husband George (who died in the same traffic accident) and various other ghosts. In the movie version Creator/CaryGrant played George Kirby in ''Topper'' (1937), but was written out of its two sequels.²** Quite a few Thorne Smith novels have at least one Manic Pixie Dream Girl strewing chaos in her wake, although in a number of occasions closer examination reveals they are in fact subversions or aversions (''Turnabout'' for instance generates its comedy from having a quarreling husband and wife being put into each other's bodies by an exasperated god). ²*** In ''The Stray Lamb'', T. Lawrence Lamb's life is thrown out of kilter by a mysterious little man magically turning him into various animals, which enables him to approach the object of his affections and to rid himself of his adulterous wife. ²*** The sprite Megaera in ''The Night Lift of the Gods'' enables Hunter Hawk to enjoy life, but the end is bittersweet [[spoiler:as he now no longer fits into the world and the two lovers turn themselves into stone, effectively becoming united in death]]. ²*** Josephine Duval in ''The Bishop's Jaegers'' play the trope fairly straight.²*** In ''The Passionate Witch'' (on which the movie ''I Married a Witch'' is based), the titular character turns out to be the villain of the story. But that novel, Thorne Smith's last, was left unfinished and was completed by another writer.²* ''Literature/{{Feed}}'' is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype, basically saying what if the hero ''didn't'' give up normalcy while being with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. [[spoiler:The girl dies at the end.]]²* A DeconstructedCharacterArchetype in ''Literature/HighFidelity'': while in college Rob goes out with a girl named Charlie who he perceives to be one of these, and when she dumps him he never really gets over it. Meeting her again, years later, he realizes that she is actually a pretentious, vapid, self-important idiot whose "quirkiness" is merely to cover up that she has no personality of her own, and he was just too immature to realize this at the time.²* E.F. Benson -- of ''Mapp And Lucia'' fame -- wrote a trilogy of novels about a turn of the 19th/20th-century version of the MPDG. But Dodo is anything but good for the men in her life -- or herself -- until she grows up a bit and earns her happily ever after.²* Sam from ''Literature/ThePerksOfBeingAWallflower'' is a sort of blander interpretation of this trope, probably to balance out the socially awkward recipient of her mania, Charlie.²* Creator/JRRTolkien's works largely avoid this: female characters are either CloserToEarth types or ethereal, magical Elven princesses. But ''Literature/TheUnfinishedTales'' features Tar-Vanimeld&euml;, Queen of N&uacute;menor. She was more interested in dancing and playing music than actually, you know, governing the most powerful nation on Middle-Earth, so she left all the boring, practical day-to-day stuff to her consort, Herucalmo. Since the Tale is Unfinished, it's not really clear what Tolkien meant for Tar-Vanimeld&euml;, but she fits many of the requirements, at least by Middle-Earth standards. Possibly a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype, since it seems Herucalmo was not okay with this: when the Queen died, he finally got sick of being the stable, modest, supportive guy and usurped the throne for himself.²* Barry Lyga's ''The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl'' deconstructs this trope with Kyra, whom the protagonist may or may not be romantically interested in. She initially encourages the male lead to be assertive and pursue his dreams, [[spoiler:but she also encourages his violent fantasies. Eventually, the protagonist realizes that she is extremely depressed and possibly mentally ill]].²* Ida Maclaird in ''The Girl with Glass Feet'' by Ali Shaw is a straight example of one, if a little mild. Ida's a vague, ethereal little thing who had wild adventures in the past and in the book teaches Midas Crook, a lonely amateur photographer, to embrace life to the fullest before [[spoiler:she dies by turning into glass]]. There's also Midas' mother Evaline and Ida's mother Freya as winsome muse figures who inspired two lonely, jaded academics to pine after them indefinitely, which may or may not count. ²* Jenny from ''Literature/TheTruthOfRockAndRoll'' has some elements of this, though she also has her dark moments and her own character arc. Also, the protagonist is the one who sought ''her'' out. ²* Holly tries to enact this role for Phil in ''Literature/{{Snyper}}'', saying he's a grumble bear who needs to lighten up. What she doesn't understand is that he's actually more reckless and impulsive than she is, which leads to [[spoiler:Phil ending their relationship by shooting her in the head with one of his anti-love bullets.]]²* ''Literature/TheExilesViolin'': Clay ''thinks'' Jacquie is one of these for him; an exciting and risk taking woman that enriches his dull and unfulfilling life, but personalitywise she's nothing like the standard. Ultimately, the trope is genderflipped because it is ''Clay'' that helps Jacquie loosen up and enjoy life, and his personality as a thrill seeking happy guy fits the standard.²* Julia in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' is, like the rest of the book, a horrific example. Sure, her presence livens up Winston's life and exposes him to things he never dreamed of, but it's clear that their relationship is based more on rebellion against Big Brother than any actual affection and they often seem to outright ''hate'' each other. (At one point Winston [[spoiler:casually talks about a fantasy he had of ''raping'' her.]])²** Her impulsive, childish behaviour would be considered emotionally immature by anyone in our world, but is arguably typical of the deliberately dumbed down population of Oceania.²* In ''Literature/GameSlaves'', Dakota is a non-romantic examples for her entire team; her questions lead them to question things and search for answers.²* ''LightNovel/KagerouDaze'':²** Ayano tried to be this for [[InsufferableGenius Shintaro]]. It's [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype deconstructed]] in that Shintaro -- while genuinely (internally) grateful for her -- was too self-absorbed to show affection back, while Ayano suffered through [[spoiler:her mother's death and subsequently finding out that her father is planning to kill two of her best friends]] alone, which eventually results in [[spoiler:her suicide, in an attempt to get an eye power]], this in turn the primary reason that Shintaro is a {{Hikikomori}} when the story opens.²** Ene also acts as one to Shintaro, constantly urging him to go outside. She just so happens to also be a complete [[{{Troll}} troll when he pisses her off]]. Notably, she is also the one to sign Shintaro up for the [[RagTagBunchOfMisfits Mekakushi-Dan]] when he's unconscious.²* ''The Farseer Trilogy'' (from the ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'' books) implies that Lady Patience was one to her husband Prince Chivalry in the back story of the characters. She's very eccentric and many in the royal court thought she was unsuited to be queen but Chivalry preferred this to "proper" ladies.²* In ''Literature/MahouShoujoTheGlowing'' Jennifer fits this trope. She comes into Colette's life, introduces her to being a magical girl, and [[spoiler:Helps her get over Sarah's death]]. They eventually enter a romantic relationship.²* Elly from ''Literature/TheBehemoth'' is an interesting deconstruction: she's actually a fairly normal young woman, with her own life and aspirations, but her best friend -- the lead character, Roger -- sees her as something like this and develops an emotional dependence upon her as a result, despite never being able to romantically approach her.²* ''Literature/{{Marina}}'' deconstructs the trope. The titular girl is presented as looking from the lonely protagonist's dreams, and in fact, she turns into the main source of light in his otherwise joyless and somber life, also becoming his {{Love Interest|s}}. However, at the end she dies and he is left to his darkness again with no direction to take. The subsequent Heroic BSOD is what moves him to write the story.²* ''[[Literature/{{REEL}} REAL]]'' [[DoubleSubversion double-subverts]] the trope with [[AmbiguousGender Lika&iuml;]]: they use a blue-skinned woman as an avatar for the first half of the novel, befriend REAL-addict protagonist [[LonersAreFreaks Neru]], introduce him to the more realistic aspects of TheMetaverse, and Neru is quick to fall in love. But then [[spoiler:Lika&iuml; steals Neru's account to enter a prestigious tournament in his place]]. Neru spends the rest of the novel trying to find out Lika&iuml;'s true motivations and whether or not [[WasItAllALie it was all a lie.]]²* The [[strike:wildling]] [[InsistentTerminology free woman]] Ygritte is this for the rigid, honor-bound Jon Snow ([[CatchPhrase who knows nothing]]) in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. He ultimately [[spoiler:chooses his honor over his love for her and returns to the Night's Watch]]; like [[CrapsackWorld so much else in the series]], it doesn't end well, although his black-and-white sense of right and wrong does seem to have gained a little more nuance from the experience.²* ''Literature/TheSecretGarden'': Dickon serves as a ''male'' version of this for both Mary and Colin. Until he shows up, his sister Martha is a good Manic Pixie Dream Girl for Mary.²* Grace in ''Literature/OurChemicalHearts'' initially seems like a straight example to Henry, so much that the trope is name-checked by his GayBestFriend Lola. She wears oversized boy's clothes, has a noticeable limp and walks with a crutch, and introduces Henry, who never thought he'd actually fall in love, to fun extracurricular pastimes such and breaking and entering. As the story progresses, however, it becomes clear she's actually a ''very'' dark {{Deconstruction}}, and a big part of Henry's character arc is realizing their relationship is actually utterly toxic on both their ends. For her, [[spoiler:it turns out she's still in love with her dead boyfriend, who she'd been with since age nine and who died in a car accident she inadvertently caused, and has inserted herself into his life to groom him into a ReplacementGoldfish (due to, we discover toward the end, the dead guy's middle name being "Henry")]]. For him, [[spoiler:he sees her as less of a person and more of a pet project that he hopes to turn into his ideal girlfriend, at one point comparing her to a kind of Japanese art made of pieces of broken ceramics, which offends her. The story ends with them deciding they're BetterAsFriends, and a ''lot'' more mentally healthy too]].²* The one the protagonist encounters in ''Literature/{{Okuyyuki}}'' is a somewhat unusual example. For one thing, she is a minor Japanese goddess whose [[SpaceshipGirl "ghost"]] inhabits a magical sword; for another, she is a BloodKnight who urges him to make truth of his dream of [[WarIsGlorious death or glory on the battlefield]].²* An OlderThanTelevision example is Sally Seton from Creator/VirginiaWoolf's novel ''[[Literature/MrsDalloway Mrs. Dalloway]]''. Sally shows up at Clarissa's ancestral home without a penny and, with her idiosyncratic behavior (smoking cigars, running naked along the hallway when she forgets the soap) and lack of concern for the judgments of others, she helps both to awaken Clarissa's bisexuality and to show her that there are possibilities outside the stuffy parameters of British upper-class society. The recipient of Sally's manic pixieness is a woman and both of them eventually settle into contented but conventional marriages and live outwardly very normal lives.²* Mattie Silver in ''Literature/EthanFrome''. Ethan, who feels trapped in a loveless marriage to her hypochondriac cousin Zeena, comes to view her as his one chance to escape the bleakness of his life and future prospects. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, her impulsive nature leads to their ruin: she talks him into committing suicide together rather than be forced apart, but their suicide attempt fails and leaves him barely able to walk and her unable to walk at all. Years after that failed suicide, she's shown to have lost all of her beauty and liveliness and become even crankier and more disagreeable than Zeena.]]²* In ''I'm Not Your Maniac Pixie Dream Girl'', Beatrice is dumped by her boyfriend for a quirkier girl and tries to become a Maniac Pixie Dream Girl herself to win him back. It fails and she learns AnAesop about [[BeYourself being yourself]]. It's also shown that even the "quirky" girl her boyfriend ditched her for is more well-rounded than the shallow MPDG stereotype Beatrice initially saw her as.²%% * Gwendolyn "Wendy" Pendrake of ''The War of Dreaming'' is this trope UpToEleven; as the daughter of the fairy queen/ queen of the Dreaming World Titania, she's a ''literal'' manic pixie dream girl. %% Zero Context Example²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Live-Action TV]]²* ''Series/DharmaAndGreg'', a sitcom that pits quirky "nonconformist" Dharma up with strait-laced bore-fest Greg. Early on Dharma fits the trope, but as with most characters in a successful, long running show CharacterDevelopment sets in and she eventually becomes a more complex, well rounded individual with her own wants and desires. There are even some episodes that {{invert|edTrope}} it, with Greg helping her realize that her "quirky" methods are not always for the best. ²* ''Series/{{Skins}}'':²** Cassie Ainsworth is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype, since she has multiple legitimate psychological problems and they're portrayed with all the seriousness they require. She doesn't exist solely as a love interest for Sid, but whenever the story is focusing on him this is clearly how he sees her. She's quite self-serving at times, and it's debatable whether she ultimately changes his life for the better. She makes him blissfully happy at times, and utterly miserable at others. A relationship with someone so mentally unstable they try to commit suicide when you cancel a date was never going to run entirely smoothly. In her Season 7 episodes, Pure, she has completely changed and now rejects this Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Cassie is no longer the wild, carefree pill popping girl she one was and has now depressingly matured into a young lonely woman who rarely socialises. She has seemingly out grown this trope and has realised being a 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' in the real world can never work.²** In season 6, a lovelorn Alo meets a sweet, bubbly girl named Poppy Champion who pulls him out of his depression with her quirky and adorable ways. That is, until she reveals that she's [[spoiler:really [[YoungerThanTheyLook thirteen years old]], and she reports him to the police when he tries to dump her]].²* Subverted on ''Series/{{Dexter}}''. Lila initially seems to have all the personality traits of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and she latches onto Dexter, the main character, a forensic scientist who also happens to be an emotionless serial killer ([[AntiVillain who only kills people who really deserve it]]). As the series goes on, though, she starts showing [[{{Yandere}} the dark side of mania]]: her antics go from amusing to dangerous, and she stops being charming and starts being scary.²-->'''Dexter:''' You are more dangerous than my addiction will ever be. And that's saying a lot.²* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'':²** Subverted when Michael meets a quirky [[FakeBrit British]] woman whom he believes is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl but is actually [[spoiler:mentally disabled. Her accent sounds so intelligent to Michael that he believes she ''voluntarily'' acts like a carefree six-year-old]].²** Maeby also serves as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl to George Michael to some extent, though played for laughs as GM is unbelievably straitlaced, and Maeby's actions go well beyond "quirky" and straight into "likely criminal." That and the fact that Maeby is [[KissingCousins kind of his cousin]]. Maybe.²* ''Series/{{MASH}}'':²** Winchester falls for a woman like this. She brings so much life into his existence. They're all set to make a go of it when she lets out that she's not a strong believer in marriage (and that her previous lover, of whom she talks in glowing terms, was never married to her). Winchester loses a chance at love, and not because his family would disapprove -- though that's a consideration for him -- but because he can't bring himself to accept this aspect of hers.²** B. J. gets one too. In the end he lets her go because he didn't want the war to dictate his life anymore than it already did. Leaving your wife and kid for a woman he met on the frontline? He could never leave [[ShellshockedVeteran the horrors he'd known there behind him.]]²* Andy's girlfriend Kat in ''Series/{{Weeds}}'' was a somewhat more hardcore version of this. She was much crazier than usual -- he even told a story about how once she stabbed him because she thought he'd kicked her "spirit animal," although he hadn't figured out what that was. And he admitted that he didn't actually love her, and implied that he was still with her because she made life interesting.²* ''Series/ThirtyRock'': Parodied by Jennifer Aniston's character in the episode "The One with the Cast of Night Court," where she ensnares powerful men like Jack Donaghy and, um, Scottie Pippen with her antics (designing bizarre hats, breaking into houses while wearing French maid outfits, singing inappropriately sexy renditions of "Happy Birthday to You", and frequently and emphatically "[[DoubleEntendre riding the F Train]]"). Everyone not currently sexing her up finds her completely insufferable. And she's crazy. Like, steal a cop's gun crazy. It's indicated that instead of making them happier, she destroys their lives before moving on.²%% * Amy in ''Series/TrueBlood'' is partly this and partly just crazy.²* The 2010 BBC series ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' had the [[InsufferableGenius titular detective]] meet John, and they quickly became friends. Sherlock ''knew'' John was looking for a purpose in life, and that his limp was psychosomatic since [[InHarmsWay it turned out that he missed it]]. Awkward. Majorly awkward. Cue John thinking "Okay, ''awkward.'' How did my friend I know I was an adrenaline junkie?" ²* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': ²** Phoebe seems to act as this to the rest of the group, as well as in most of her relationships. Notably, the group occasionally finds her actions annoying or intrusive, and in the 10th season, Phoebe admits that she has never been in a relationship which lasted more than a month. Occasionally, being an Manic Pixie Dream Girl seems to actively work against her, such as the first time she was ready to move in with a man, and then broke up with him shortly after when he impulsively shot a bird with his handgun. On another occasion, she ends a relationship because her boyfriend is ''even more'' of a [[SpearCounterpart Manic Pixie Dream Guy]] than she is, and she can't stand him.²** Monica gets a personal non-romantic Manic Pixie Dream Girl for one episode in the form of the "other Monica", an eccentric woman who stole her credit card. Monica follows her, first to see her and possibly report her, but she enjoys tap lessons and crashing parties with her way too much.²** Emily Waltham, Ross's girlfriend, had shades of this trope and similar effect on Ross. They spontaneously went to Vermont and enthusiastically watched animals and enjoyed the autumn there, he played rugby because of her, she made him pierce his ear and enroll in helicopter lessons. Though he says she won't be around for long enough for him to actually frequent the lessons.²* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' had one of these in the form of a GirlOfTheWeek, Caitlin the quirky artist, but the trope was subverted by having their relationship not work out because they shared no similarities -- just ''very'' hot sex.²* In ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' there's an episode featuring a girl named Quincy, who sort of positions herself as this, dragging the straitlaced Hanson around and trying to convince him to "lighten up". Of course, her idea of fun is crime sprees and potentially fatal thrill-seeking. She ''terrifies'' him, and ends up [[spoiler:shot to death by security guards while robbing a house]].²* Chuck does fulfill this role for Ned in ''Series/PushingDaisies'', but she has plenty of her own characterisation.²%% * Flo from the Progressive car insurance advertisements is a nicely-done non-romantic version.²* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'':²** Subverted with [[spoiler:Riley, who's actually from the future, having a mental breakdown from culture shock, and is under orders to act as one of these to John, ostensibly in order to reduce Cameron's influence on him, but actually so that Cameron will kill her, accomplishing the same goal more effectively]].²** Cameron herself [[ZigZaggingTrope zig zags this.]] When first meeting John she's friendly and acts interested in him in a bid to get close and be where he is, before it's revealed that she's a Terminator and most of her human traits disappear as she goes into guardian mode. She claims to love him, but this was at the time she was damaged and was trying to kill him, and she uses her looks (she ''is'' played by Creator/SummerGlau after all) and his apparent feelings for her to both manipulate and try and build him into the future resistance leader.²* Carrie on ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' dates a male version for a while. Raymond is a charming, upbeat jazz musician, but Carrie eventually learns that he can't focus on anything for very long (as if he had a form of ADHD) and doesn't have much depth beyond his love of music.²* ''{{Series/Community}}'':²** Abed Nadir of is a male version and a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. He brings out the geekiness and creativity in his friends (and is described as "a magical, elf-like man who makes us all more magical by being near us"), but his antics can be wildly exhausting and irresponsible, and his odd outlook on life can be attributed to an AmbiguousDisorder. Possibly intentionally, as he's shown to be remarkably trope-savvy.²--->''"If this were a movie, what would the hero do? Abed: He'd run after her and make a fantastic display of affection!"''²** The episode "Herstory of Dance" gives Abed a possible love interest in Kat, a girl who rides a scooter, plays with a bubble-blower, plays the saw in an all-girl Kazoo band and brings waterwings to a school dance. Annie tried to set them up, but others in the group were disturbed by her over-the-top child-like behaviour. The same episode introduces minor recurring character Rachel (played by Creator/BrieLarson) who has her own quirks and jumps at the chance for some playful shenanigans but [[BirdsOfAFeather her personality aligns with Abed]] in a more natural way.²* ''Series/DoctorWho'':²** At one point, the First Doctor has ended two stories abnormally unhappily -- turning an entire planet into a wasteland, committing a genocide against every Dalek there, and watching two of his companions get KilledOffForReal at the end of "The Daleks' Master Plan"; and deliberately deciding not to help prevent thousands of innocent people from being slaughtered by religious maniacs at the end of "The Massacre". This got too much for his companion Steven, who said ScrewThisImOutOfHere, leading to the Doctor having his first major {{Angst}} scene in the canon -- ThinkingOutLoud to the empty TARDIS about how he knows that to ShootTheDog is the right thing to do and how incredibly lonely he feels. This is interrupted by the particularly [[CloudCuckooLander loopy]] companion Dodo bursting in through the doors (in the hope of finding a police telephone) and being incredibly adventure-hungry and perky until his heart melts and he decides to take her travelling. Dodo was one of the least developed companions in the classic series.²** Clara Oswald takes this role in Season 7, a very cute and feminine woman who provides the Doctor with a mystery that drags him back into adventuring. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} as while her own character remains relatively undeveloped through the season, as it progresses the Doctor's obsession with her becomes increasingly one-sided and unhealthy, such as in the scene at the end of "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" in which he begs her to tell him if she's a trick or a trap. It turns out that Clara ''is'' actually just a normal girl, although one brave enough to save the Doctor by manipulating his own timeline. In Season 8 her dynamic with the Doctor drastically changes out of this archetype and she gets an awful lot more character development into the bargain, although he still weaponises her Manic Pixie and MoralityPet traits in "Kill the Moon".²** In an interview at the back of the Free Comic Book Day 2015 special issue of Titan's ''Doctor Who'' comic, writer Creator/PaulCornell describes the Tenth Doctor (possibly the Eleventh too) as a "manic pixie dream Doctor" in comparison to the Twelfth. Then in ''Comicbook/DoctorWhoFourDoctors'', Cornell has Twelfth himself [[IHatePastMe call his past selves that]].²* [[GenkiGirl Vala Mal Doran]] tries to be this for [[NiceGuy Daniel Jackson]] from ''Series/StargateSG1''. When she's not trying to steal stuff like gold and valuables anyway. Their relationship could be read as an inversion, since Daniel makes more progress calming Vala down and pushing her into being a more responsible person than she does spicing up his existence.²* Jessica Day in ''Series/NewGirl'', played by [[{{Typecasting}} actress]] Creator/ZooeyDeschanel, takes this to the extreme. Deconstructed as Jessica's life is a mess, as opposed to the guys she rooms with.²* On ''{{Series/Smallville}}'', a certain miss ComicBook/LoisLane fulfills this function. She arrives at the beginning of Season 4. By the end of Season 3, the characters had all gotten caught up in a DarkerAndEdgier web of lies created by Lionel Luthor, Chloe's life was full of fear and angst, and our hero Clark had become brooding and ultra-serious, and then Chloe's cousin Lois shows up in town and turns Clark's, Chloe's, and the Kents' lives upside down for the better. Many critics argued that Lois's introduction brought a much-needed breath of fresh air to the show, as her infectious energy and charisma, {{BondOneLiner}}s, and hard-partying ways enlivened the show's dynamic. Lois quickly became a fan-favorite (well, except for the DieForOurShip people) character, and her original 4-episode run on the show was expanded, and she became a regular character the following season.²* In Season 2 of ''Series/BreakingBad'' Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) meets a low-key MPDG in the form of Jane (Krysten Ritter), a tattoo artist with a serious drug history. She's considerably more subdued and less manic than most examples, and she encourages him to cut back on the drugs in addition to getting him to embrace art. Then she [[PoisonousFriend demonstrates the dark side of this trope]] when she backslides on her own sobriety, gets Jesse into harder drugs (and given that he started out as a methhead, that's saying something), and ultimately reveals herself (at least while using) to be greedy, [[YokoOhNo manipulative]], and self-destructive. [[spoiler:Then she dies of an overdose.]]²* A DeconstructedCharacterArchetype in ''Series/{{Louie}}'' with Parker Posey's character Liz, whom Louie takes on a date. She's cute, smart, vivacious, eccentric and irreverent, spending their entire date suggesting adventurous things to do and repeatedly trying to push Louie out of his shell. However, there are frequent hints that she's a bi-polar alcoholic and pathological liar.²* [[DiscussedTrope Referred to by name]] by Deeks in the ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' episode "The Fifth Man", though not only is her behavior explained as UsefulNotes/AspergersSyndrome, it's a bit of a twist on the usual application of the trope in that the man whose life she inserted herself into is not her love interest but her [[DisappearedDad deadbeat dad]], following [[MissingMom the death of her mother]].²* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' uses this as one of its primary themes, and as a result downplays its aspects. ²** Leonard and his friends Sheldon, Howard and Raj are content with their lives of scientific research at Caltech and being concerned with any given upcoming nerdy activity such as Klingon Boggle. When [[TokenGirl Penny]] moves in next door she is neither a genius or a nerd, but is actually an average girl with a vibrant social life. Being around her Leonard can't help but see the contrast between her going out dancing and them sitting at home playing ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' together. While it is most evident with Leonard as they become romantically involved with each other, everyone evolves significantly by having her in their lives.²** In a reversal, Penny never really gave much thought to the academic pursuits these guys are involved with on a daily basis. While she is hopelessly unable to keep up with their {{Technobabble}} after some time she retains and is fascinated with a few thought experiments, famously UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat in the first season finale. By the fourth season she has admitted that it is hard for her to keep less intelligent company around. By season six, she has gone back to school, taking a history class and, as of season seven, a psychology class. Even from the beginning she was a [[StarvingArtist struggling actress]], and her CommitmentIssues always threatens to put her and Leonard back to square one. Leonard actually got around that by putting the power of getting married in her hands, so that she wouldn't feel pressured by him.²** Leonard and Penny get engaged late in the seventh season, and a recurring element in the eighth season is that they are worried about their relationship being one of convenience and if their attraction to each other has any real depth to it. The gist of it comes down to being that Leonard sees Penny as an attractive and outgoing girl who enjoys offering physical affection like hugs ([[FreudianExcuse something he never got from his mom]]) and Penny sees Leonard as a good guy who is wildly unlike her past, sleazy boyfriends and whose intelligence is inspiring. But their differing personalities leaves lingering doubt in the back of their heads. Penny even tells Leonard "Your complete and utter devotion to me is what we built this entire relationship on!"²* A DeconstructedCharacterArchetype appears in season 4 of ''Series/{{Misfits}}''. Lola at first appears to be a bit of a MPDG but it is later revealed that [[spoiler:she is caught in some endless cycle of making men fall for her and kill off each other. Which is much more Femme Fatal. It also turns out she had been an actress practicing a role when the storm came, and the storm had made her become that character]].²* Deconstructed and POV-flipped in ''Series/{{Girls}}'' -- the fact that Jessa is a carefree (read: irresponsible), spontaneous (impulsive), free-spirited (rudderless) social butterfly (unreliable flake) leads every guy she so much as looks at to see her as one of these. She complains about this at times, but at others is perfectly happy to exploit it for a fling. When her FourthDateMarriage to a venture capitalist starts going sour, she points out that his relationship with her is probably the most spontaneous thing he's ever done, whereas "I've been living this life for 25 years".²* ''Series/{{Perception}}'''s Natalie Vincent is an interesting DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. She is hardly impulsive or spontaneous, and her male counterpart certainly is, but like any self-respecting MPDG she is there to serve Daniel's needs. As [[spoiler:a total figment of Daniel's imagination]] Natalie's life revolves around him, but she is there to be a friend, an intellectual equal, and to give Daniel a grounded perspective to contrast his wild, often irrational ideas. Though [[spoiler:her entire existence is a male fantasy]], he loves her to the point of recklessness for his own well-being.²* [[spoiler:Irene/Moriarty]] in ''Series/{{Elementary}}'' is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. First introduced as attractive, optimistic, artsy and quirky who showed a brighter side of life to [[spoiler:Holmes]]. Then we find out [[spoiler:she was faking it, deliberately constructing her false persona to fool Holmes and distract him from her plans]].²* ''Series/{{Glee}}'':²** Holly Holiday is a quirky, sexy, fun-loving, restlessly spontaneous substitute teacher. Through his platonic and then romantic relationship with her, Will learns how to let loose and live a little. However, she admits that she's a mess, and incapable of any kind of commitment.²** Blaine Anderson was originally a male, gay version of this trope for Kurt, even though Kurt himself has some characteristics typical to this trope. However, until he got himself some CharacterDevelopment in later seasons, he was originally presented as a love interest for Kurt, and nothing more. While Blaine spent a lot of time trying to pull Kurt out of his shell and [[ClosetKey come to terms with his sexuality]], he didn't have any ambitions or goals of his own.²* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': [[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave Nico Saiba]] is a rare negative example. Even though she is [[RefugeInAudacity cheerful]] and [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu immature]], it's not endearing and her real objective is goading [[DoctorJerk Taiga]] [[FallenHero Hanaya]] into antagonizing [[TheHero Emu]] [[TheHeart Hojo]].²** [[spoiler:She eventually outgrows this, starting with toning down her obnoxious behavior, dropping most of her grudge against Emu and taking nicer approach towards Taiga. Her most important step out of MPDG territory comes in #27, when she becomes Rider Player Nico so she could complete Kamen Rider Chronicle and save the players who had Game Over. It doesn't not change her being a negative example. Her intentions have a good side to them and are somewhat justified, but they still cause some grand chaos. [[note]] 1) She further complicates things for CR by getting herself infected with Game Disease. 2) She endangers her life even more by fighting Busters on her own as Rider Player Nico. 3) This presses all Taiga's buttons at once, causing him to spend most of the episode behaving as if devoid of all common sense. [[/note]] Things get better after it's sorted out, though.]]²* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':²** A DeconstructedCharacterArchetype features with Meredith, Castle's first wife and Alexis's mother. While Castle and Alexis are clearly fond of Meredith, they both find her exhausting to be around for a longer period of time, and she's especially shown to not be a very responsible parent to Alexis. Castle describes her as a "deep-fried twinkie" -- tastes great, but really bad for you. ²** Castle himself begins the show claiming to be a Manic Pixie Dream Boy to Kate Beckett. (This is interesting considering the fact that Beckett herself serves as the related trope of TheMuse to Castle.) Like most [=MPDBs=] he gets plenty of CharacterDevelopment over time, and it's more that than his "fun" that wins Kate over. Though even before that, his jokes often amuse Kate just enough for her to banter back for a moment, and she usually gives better than she gets.²* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'':²** Lorelai Gilmore, a thirty-something gorgeous woman who is quirky and fan of TV and films and little pleasures in life. She lives in a QuirkyTown and compared to some of its Cloud Cuckoo Landers, she's relatively normal.²** Rory can have this effect on guys she dates, mostly making them to enjoy literature and dragging them to her home and introducing them to her slightly crazy but cute mum.²** Kirk describes his girlfriend Lulu as Manic Pixie Dream Girl -- a woman who made him enjoy his life to its fullest. She's a teacher and when seen in person, she's not actually very quirky or crazy.²* ''Series/TheXFiles'' has a subversion in the character of Melissa Scully, Agent Dana Scully's sister. Melissa is a lot into crystals, psychics and New Age stuff and tries to get Mulder to leave his "dark" place and drop his cynicism and paranoia. Not surprising he's depressed as his partner and only friend Scully is dying. Refreshingly, Mulder is most definitely ''not'' impressed and absolutely uninterested in her happy and playful ways. The rumour has it that Melissa was originally written as his {{Love Interest|s}}, but instead she was quickly turned into a SacrificialLion. She appeared mid season 2, and season 3 openers saw her dead.²* Kathleen Scott on the miniseries ''Series/TheLastPlaceOnEarth'' (about the race between Scot and Amundson to the South Pole) is a downplayed version of this and [[BoldExplorer her husband Robert]] specifically compliments her on it, and notes that he wishes he wasn't to grumpy to be like her. She is a great traveller(for an Edwardian woman), artist, and party girl; wishes she could go with Robert, and tells him in effect, "Be a badass and give me a badass son as well."²* An interesting double sided case seems to occur in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. The eponymous Mother appears to approach this character trope but at the same time he is also this for her. She is effectively portrayed as Ted's dream girl, having quirks such as painting pictures of robots, singing show tunes while making breakfast, playing bass guitar in a band and helping pull Ted out of one of the darkest times in his life. Season 9 reveals more quirks such as owning a pair of driving gloves and wanting to see weird stuff on roadside, just like Ted. She also helps pull Ted out of a rather dark time in his life as [[spoiler:Robin marries Barney, when Ted always felt that she should be with him]]. Most of Ted's quirks are similarly appealing to her. She genuinely laughs at his shellfish-selfish joke and gets why he would call a bar Puzzles -- that's the puzzle. [[spoiler:Ted also pulls her out of an even darker place as she hadn't gotten over the death of her first love Max eight years earlier.]] ²** Apparently, Victoria is this as well since [[WhatCouldHaveBeen she was supposed to be the Mother if the show hadn't continued]]. Her EstablishingCharacterMoment was playfully coming up with fun ideas during a wedding such as stealing the bride's bouquet, doing cartwheels etc. Unfortunately, her relationship with Ted didn't last after she went to Germany and Ted tried to two-time with her and Robin which led to their break-up.²* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':²** There are elements of this in Jenny Calendar. While more serious and settled than most, she certainly has a wild and playful side that shakes up the stuffy Giles (particularly in season one, before his [[DarkAndTroubledPast dark past]] added a [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass]] to him). ²** Drusilla is a villainous example.²*** This is somewhat subverted when the reason for her CloudCuckooLander personality is revealed: she was driven to insanity after Angelus killed her family and inflicted every mental torture he could think of onto her before turning her into a vampire.²* Jeannie is one of these to Maj. Nelson in ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie.''²* Ovejita from ''Series/SesameStreet'' is probably a Manic Pixie Dream Sheep. She is always bopping Murray and dragging him off to various schools. However this could be a subversion, as Murray has always been just as energetic as Ovejita is.²* ''Series/TheLWord'' has a lesbian take on this trope -- Tasha, the tough, quiet, TokenWholesome [[TheSquadette military officer]] enters a relationship with Alice, the quirky MotorMouth radio persona who ReallyGetsAround. Alice helps Tasha come out of her shell, and supports her as she deals with the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy in the military. ²* ''Series/TheLastManOnEarth'': Carol (Creator/KristenSchaal) has all the markings of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but her natural pairing Phil (Will Forte) doesn't seem all that taken by her manic energy for the most part, only reluctantly coupling up with her as no one else appears to be able to stand him. On the other hand, Phil 2.0 (Boris Kodjoe) falls head over heels for Carol, so the trope still stands. ²* Amy in ''Series/TrueBlood'' is a deconstruction. She is introduced as a sexy, druggy, CloudCuckoolander, but turns out to be a psychopathic addict who imprisons and kills harmless vampires for their psychedelic blood.²* Gender-flipped, played with, and ultimately subverted in ''No Tomorrow''. Xavier has no job and spends all his time coming up with wacky stuff he wants to do and encourages Evie to do the same...not because of his own personality, but because he believes an asteroid will wipe out humanity in less than a year so he might as well just do whatever he wants with his remaining time. Evie has fun with it for a while, but when she waffles on quitting her job, Xavier steals her phone and sends a profane text to her boss saying she quits. Evie wastes no time telling him how far over the line it was, and he quickly agrees to never do anything like it again, enabling them to remain on good terms.²* Lola in ''Series/DegrassiNextClass'' certainly looks and acts the part. Wild hair, exuberant child-like nature, occasional lapses in reality or common sense. Being cute and bubbly to both dour mourning boys and her far more straight laced friends. To the point where her friends treat her like she's a played straight version of this trope. The problem is [[spoiler:Lola gets pregnant, from having sex with mourning heartthrob Miles. When she needs anyone to take her seriously and be on her side, go with her to the women's clinic... they all treat her like she's just being needy and childish.]] Ouch.²* A truly unusual example comes from Root in Person Of Interest, with much more depth and with two different relationships. She serves as a platonic version of this to Finch, trying to improve his relationship with [[BenevolentAI The Machine]], and willing to do anything to protect him. She also has this dynamic with [[LesYay her love interest]], Shaw, in which Root tries to bring Shaw out of her emotionless shell. Though unlike most love interest examples, Shaw is actually [[LackOfEmpathy something of a sociopath]], who has extreme difficulty having emotions for others. Root also has something of a ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend dynamic with both as well. ²* Fran Fine from ''Series/TheNanny'' is an upbeat and exuberant Jewish working class woman, who brings a much needed new spirit into the entire household of her more uptight widowed British employer, Maxwell Sheffield. Fran is the protagonist though, so she's a more well-developed character than the more negative examples of the trope. And even though Maxwell is attracted to her already from early on, he has huge commitment issues and needs almost five years to finally propose marriage to Fran. ²* In ''Series/{{Victoria}}'', there's an interesting {{inver|tedTrope}}sion of this trope during the courtship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert: it is the brooding and serious young man, who changes the life of the spirited and cheerful young woman. Albert wants Victoria to become more responsible and a bit less frivolous, and he reminds her of the harsh reality of how her least fortunate subjects have to live (she had previously not really opened her eyes to their situation). But despite a few arguments, there's an obvious attraction between them. And within only a few days, they're engaged to be married. ²* Ygritte on ''Series/GameOfThrones'' is this for Jon. She's boisterous and daring, and repeatedly teases Jon for his naivety. Jon was a virgin and [[CelibateHero sworn to celibacy]], but Ygritte pursued in anyway and finally seduced him. Most often she tells him he "knows nothing", yet ironically she mistook a windmill for a castle because she had never seen either. Through Jon's time with Ygritte he is able to experience the real world and learn vital lessons that aid his rise to power later. [[spoiler:Ygritte is a dark subversion because their relationship ends in tragedy.]]²* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'':²** Deconstructed. The MPDG is the protagonist who ''tries'' to act like one. Her attempts to win over Josh with her cute, slightly stalkery ways lead to widespread emotional destruction (though Josh admits in a later season that, despite it all, she really ''did'' push him to seek more from his life), and eventually lead to her going full PsychoExGirlfriend and then attempting suicide, ultimately being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.²** This trope is referenced in relation to Nathaniel in "He's The New Guy", where she entreats her coworkers not to trust that their BadBoss has a heart of gold just because some 'quirky girl' dated him for a while. But while the trope is still deconstructed in terms of their relationship (she tries to break up with him because being in love tends to trigger her unhealthy tendencies, which actually happens when she ends up stalking his father in an attempt to make him happy), it's also reconstructed - her being borderline doesn't make her unworthy of love or incapable of bringing people happiness, and she really does manage to tear down some of his emotional walls and bring some joy to his life. This trope is also referenced by Rebecca herself in "He's The New Guy" when arguing that Nathaniel is a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk:²--->''He's the new guy, not easily reformed by some quirky girl that he met at work!''²* ''Series/CrashingUS'': Kat is a subversion. She's a wild and free-spirited woman who helps break the mild-mannered Pete out of his shell a bit, but after several months of relationship, they ultimately prove incompatible with each other and have an ugly break-up.²* On ''Series/TheBoys2019'', Butcher references this trope to Frenchie about his relationship with The Female/Kimiko.²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Music]]²%% * The video of [[http://youtu.be/bHAHQcSGOKk ''Wings'']] (NSFW-ish) by the German electro-punk group Frittenbude has a rare, gay {{Spear Counterpart}} example.²%% * With The Sugarcubes and solo, real-life MPDG {{Music/Bjork}} has been preciously chirping songs about date rape and spouting quotable enigmas since the late 80s.²* Music/TheDeadMilkmen's song "Punk Rock Girl" plays this trope enthusiastically straight, with a dweeby narrator describing a series of playfully violent encounters with an unnamed female other.²-->''We went to the Phillie Pizza Company\²And ordered some hot tea\²The waitress said "Well no\²We only have it '''[[PunkRock oiced]]'''"\²So we jumped up on the table\²And shouted "anarchy"''\²...\²''We got into her car\²Away we started rollin'\²I said "How much you pay for this?"\²She said "Nothing man, it's stolen"''²%% * Tess from the song with the same name by Peter [=LeMarc=] is a classic example.²%% * The girl in Gianlucca Bezzina's Series/EurovisionSongContest entry for Malta, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WmJXIR9xtw "Tomorrow"]], is this to the guy. Be warned, this song could only get cuter if puppies were the ones performing it.²* The girl described in the song "Her Eyes" by Pat Monahan. (It seems like most of the songs written by Monahan, solo or with Train, are about describing the interests and quirks of these kind of girls. It's not hard to conclude Monahan ''[[AuthorAppeal likes this kind of girl]]'').²* "Lilly" by Music/PinkMartini describes either a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, or a very enthusiastic puppy dog ("Lilly comes when you stop to call her, Lilly runs when you look away, Lilly leaves kisses on your collar, Lilly-Lilly-Lilly-Lilly stay!")²* In Pick Up The Phone by Dragonette the singer stars as one of these singing to "Cherry", reminding her not to be very serious and singing about all their exploits "painting the town till it was up in smoke". Though [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14BsjAqv-Vc the film clip]] tends to zig zagg it because in the end it's [[spoiler:all in her mind]].²%% * The Association's "Windy" is one of the stand-out examples.²%% * "Ruby Tuesday" by Music/TheRollingStones fits this trope nicely.²%% * Music/PinkFloyd's "See Emily Play".²%% * "Little Wing" by Music/JimiHendrix²%% * "Paper Sun" by Music/{{Traffic}} is a bit of darker take on what can happen to a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.²%% * "We'll Sing in The Sunshine" by Gale Garnett is sung from the point-of-view of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.²%% * "California Girl and The Tennessee Square" by Tompall and The Glaser Brothers is a country music example.²* "Try It And See" by Rita Pavone is sung from the perspective of a woman trying to convince a man to let her be a Manic Pixie for him. It was written by Creator/AndrewLloydWebber, who later re-used the melody in ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'' for, of all things, [[VillainSong King Herod's gloating number]].²%% * One that reminisces about the '60s "Summer of Love": Richard Thompson's "Beeswing" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HApy-Xoix-g live performance with full lyrics in description]]²%% * "Diggin' Your Scene" by Music/SmashMouth:²%% -->''Tell me why we're all gluttons for pain''\²%% ''The girl is totally insane''\²%% ''She doesn't know the meaning of tame''\²%% ''Still, I can't put out the flame''²%% * Vanessa Carlton's "Ordinary Day" is about a male version of this trope.²%% * Edison Lighthouse's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr6H1a7YUac Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes]]²* "Any Old Wind That Blows" by Music/JohnnyCash (written by Dick Feller), though the narrator's feelings about the MPDG are a bit ambiguous:²-->''She's a butterfly in mid-July''\²''Who just can't wait to try her brand new wings''\²''On brand new things''\²''And she needs no rhyme or reason when she goes''\²''Her mind is on what lies beyond''\²''That wall of blue horizon, I suppose''\²''And heaven knows''\²''She'll go sailin' off on any old wind that blows''²%% * "Jane" by Music/BarenakedLadies is about a girl getting fed up with being the MPDG to people, including the narrator.²* Bessie from "Up on Cripple Creek" by Music/TheBand, who rips up winning horse racing tickets "just for a laugh" (or so the main character in the song wants us to see her as).²* "Head First" by John Waite and the Babys could be interpreted this way. The narrator isn’t sure about her at first, but he’s drawn to her more and more every time he sees her. The cover art of [[AlbumTitleDrop the album this song appears on]] carries the idea further: it depicts a girl wearing mismatched shoes falling backwards.²%% * Played straight or possibly subverted by Music/TheGratefulDead in Scarlet Begonias, definitely subverted in the Sublime version.²* "[[https://youtu.be/bncQ49Z4y5c?list=PLjACqN5i5sDWU8BGL5afu1ynDxAMPX2rH Miss Impossible]]" by Music/PoetsOfTheFall appears to describe such a woman, and {{lampshade|Hanging}}s her paradoxical nature:²-->''As she is beautiful, she's unpredictable,''\²''Damned irresistible, is it plausible to hate her?''\²''She is my common sense, revels on decadence,''\²''But what's the difference, it's impossible to bait her.''²%% * If the female love interests in "Girl" or "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" don't count in Music/TheBeatles' catalogue, "Lovely Rita" just might.²%% * The eponymous girl in the Music/MatchboxTwenty song "She's So Mean".²* The girl in Music/RickyMartin's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p47fEXGabaY "Livin' La Vida Loca"]]. "She'll make you live her crazy life," but the result is that "She will wear you out" and "She'll make you go insane." She's quite an experience but also dangerous.²%% * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqeHuk07X60 4Ever by The Veronicas]] is sung from the perspective of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.²%% * Music/TheMonkees' "Sunny Girlfriend" fits the type, but the last line makes it a subversion, making the MPDG's emotions a pretense.²%% * The music video for "Cradle of Love" by Music/DavidBowie is all over this.²* British Girl Group Music/ThePipettes had this as their joint image, especially in their former incarnation as of their first album, ''We Are The Pipettes''; the track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxDN49gQoBY "ABC"]] is the song of a girl who clearly wishes to be the manic pixie dream for a book-smart but introverted {{nerd}}.²* [[Music/{{Aja}} "Josie"]] by Music/SteelyDan is about a local wild party girl returning home to everyone's delight after being away awhile.²* "Skateaway" by Music/DireStraits is about a mysterious carefree girl who roller skates around the city's streets in the middle of the night. ²* The eponymous character in Music/LeonardCohen's "Suzanne" from ''Music/SongsOfLeonardCohen'' is perhaps a borderline example of this trope: she shows the narrator all the secret places around the docks, is "kinda crazy", and almost becomes a kind of mythic figure by the end of the song.²* A favorite MPDG of film and televison, Creator/ZooeyDeschanel has turned her preciousness into a mildly successful music career as well, singing in the band She & Him with M. Ward.²%% * The titular character in Music/{{Train}}'s first hit [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Qvb7q9Nm0 "Meet Virginia."]]²* In Music/NeilDiamond's "Shilo", the singer remembers inventing the eponymous ImaginaryFriend as a child due to [[WhenYouComingHomeDad his father not having time for him]] and the other kids ostracizing him. As he gets older, he meets and falls for a MPDG who helps him find his confidence... then dumps him, which sends him back to longing for the imaginary friend.²* Music/MotionCitySoundtrack's song "Antonia" definitely gives this impression of the titular character. The verses are a laundry list of her numerous quirks and idiosyncrasies, while the chorus states that the singer cannot live without her. In [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080601162416/http://www.ripitup.com.au/interviews/5951 this interview]] writer Justin Pierre states that there is no one girl with all of these traits, but that they were taken from many people, including but not limited to his sister and the band's male drummer.²* The video to Music/CarlyRaeJepsen's "Run Away With Me" is pretty much a Point-of-view experience of a guy traveling around the world with Carly as his MPDG.²* Music/GreenDay occasionally has a song written about lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong's wife, Adrienne, which seems to paint her in this light-see: "She's A Rebel", "Last Of The American Girls", and "Youngblood".²%% * The Waterboys' "The Whole of the Moon" is basically just a manual on how to be an MPDG.²%% * "Kate" by Music/BenFolds seems to describe one of these.²%% * Adam Blotner's "Interesting Girl" spectacularly parodies this trope.²%% * The eponymous girl of Music/EdSheeran's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87gWaABqGYs Galway Girl]]," as played by Creator/SaoirseRonan in the video.²%% * Music/WalkTheMoon: Nicholas Petricca's "discotheque Juliet teenage dream" that is the subject of "Shut Up And Dance."²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]²* OlderThanPrint: The Leanan Sidhe [[TheFairFolk fairy]] of Myth/IrishMythology is basically this. It's understood that a relationship with such a literal manic pixie is [[DownerEnding doomed]] to end with the human lover [[GoMadFromTheRevelation losing his mind from exposure to the sidhe's alien ways,]] or have his [[SoullessShell life drained away]] from the sheer excitement she causes him to have. It's also implied that a human may [[DeathByDespair die from despair]], as he knows the pixie will leave him one day and he'll never find anyone like her ever again among a human population.²* Mermaids tend to have this effect on fishermen in Myth/NauticalFolklore.²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Stand-up Comedy]]²* Simon Amstell of ''Series/GrandmasHouse'' and ''Series/NeverMindTheBuzzcocks'', discusses and deconstructs the trope in all but name in his show ''Do Nothing'': "I was in Paris recently with a new group of people, one of whom was a sort of kooky interesting girl, though in hindsight not that interesting. I always get fooled, I always think, Oh she seems fascinating. Is she, Simon? Or does she just have short hair? She suggests at about three in the morning that we all run up the Champs-&Eacute;lys&eacute;es to the Arc de Trimphe. And I guess telling you about that now, it sounds exciting and fun, but at the time I just thought, Why would we do that?"²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Theater]]²* ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'': [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Mimi]] to Roger, [[FemmeFatale Maureen]] to Joanne and Mark, and [[MagicalQueer Angel]] to Tom. The entire Musical is basically about this trope played with in multiple ways. Of the three; Mimi and Maureen both rail against their lovers' objectifying them as such, dealing as they are with their own respective emotional turmoil. The only true essential Manic Pixie Dream [[GenderBender Queen]] is Angel, not just for his lover Tom Collins but for the entire show, as his [[FunPersonified joie de vivre]], boundless generosity and loving energy serve as both [[TheHeart a model and moral compass]] against which every other character measures his or her own self-defeating behavior and emotional incontinence. Of course [[spoiler:he dies in act two]] thus fulfilling [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth the transient aspect]] of the archetype.²* Marcy from ''I Love You Because'', and the song "Coffee" is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3THeZqxc18 nearly an in-song definition of this trope]]. ²* Classic example: Maria in ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic''. She's often overlooked as an example of the trope, because she's really trying her best to be a mature, motherly type (in addition to being a ''nun''). There's an entire song dedicated to her MPDG tendencies, sung by the other nuns in her abbey who are frustrated with her childlike flightiness and apparent inattention to the reservation demanded of her as a nun.²* Deconstructed [[OlderThanRadio as far back]] as Ibsen's ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'', in which the heroine Nora is a (seemingly) flighty, vivacious, kooky child-woman who gradually realizes that she's been so working so hard at playing this role for her more conventional husband -- even through bearing him three children -- that she has never really grown up and has no idea of her true self, and that their relationship is thus only a game, not adult love. She leaves him to try and learn how to be a fully formed human being.²* Subverted in the musical ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}'': Sally tries to be a Manic Pixie for Cliff, but her determined spunky optimism and unwillingness to grow up make her ignore the threat of Nazism and drive Cliff away from her. The very dark Donmar Warehouse production played her eventually as an outright nihilistic DeathSeeker.²* Susan Hollander from Woody Allen's ''Theatre/DontDrinkTheWater'' is borderline the definition of this trope as her only personality trait other then that she is a SatelliteLoveInterest for major screw-up Axel is that she is somewhat of a hippie (the fact that the show was written and set in TheSixties helps).²* ''Theatre/{{Carmen}}'' deconstructs this: she's a HotGypsyWoman who seduces and enchants the lead male, Don Jose, with her free-spirited nature, but quickly tires of him as he proclaims his everlasting love for her. Turns out she's not so much for the forever love, and she leaves him for someone much more exciting. [[spoiler:As a result, he kills her out of jealousy at the end of the opera.]]²* The Neil Simon play ''Theatre/BarefootInThePark'' explores the relationship of Manic Pixie Dream Girl and her dull love interest; fun loving Cory flickers between trying to spice up her housewife roles and pouting that her new husband won't pay attention to her, while Paul struggles with his wife's playful nature he loves and focusing on the career he kind of needs. It's a romantic comedy but does show the MPDG Cory as childish and needing to grow up if she wants her marriage to really work. [[spoiler:It ends with them switching roles and Cory learning to worry a little about the result of her actions.]]²* In ''Theatre/BellsAreRinging'', Ella Peterson steps into and improves the lives of three clients of the telephone answering service she works for. She helps a dentist realize his ambitions to become a songwriter, makes a washed-up [[MumblingBrando Brando wannabe]] actor stop mumbling, buy a suit and get a part, and a struggling playwright overcome his WritersBlock and, incidentally, fall in love with her.²* ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' has a whole song about the trope, sung by Elphaba, who watches unhappily from the sidelines as Glinda effortlessly charms everyone. Gets deconstructed a bit in the second act, though.²* Marta in ''Theatre/{{Company}}'' acts this way, but it's a subversion as she does not really seem to have any major effect on Bobby's life.²* Sheherezade in ''Theatre/TwistedTheUntoldStoryOfARoyalVizier'' is a thorough subversion; since she lives in a world where magic is a real and tangible thing, her dreamy, creative life as a storyteller yields valuable knowledge rather than pointless whimsy. When she brightens Jafar's life, it's a deliberate (and skillfully clever) effort on her part rather than just her innate quirkiness, and when Jafar falls in love with her, it's because her argument for the value of magic is logical and well-reasoned enough to convince him of her worth, even if he never actually adopts her viewpoint on it.²* The ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' play series: {{Subverted}} in part four, ''Gilded Cages.'' Mrs. Hawking suggests that her husband saw her this way and that she suffered greatly from his effort to box her into that role. ²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Video Games ]]²* ''VideoGame/{{Violet}}'':²** The title character is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl; she's the PlayerCharacter's quirky Australian girlfriend who has a limitless supply of pet names, makes gifts like origami trophies or custom snowglobes, is indefatigably supportive, and loves the PlayerCharacter [[spoiler:even after he/she destroys all the aforementioned gifts in order to, among other things, shut out his/her ex-girlfriend]]. She both lampshades and deconstructs the trope as you continue playing and more backstory comes along: Violet admits that a lot of their problems come from the fact that she ''can't'' just be the protagonist's funny little girlfriend all the time, that she is also a real person with real hopes and desires and she's getting tired of putting her life on hold waiting for the protagonist to finish the work s/he was supposed to finish ages ago.²** Also of note is that the character we know as "Violet" is really just the way the protagonist imagines her voice in his/her head. So it's an even bigger deconstruction, because the story focuses purely on how she's viewed, not on what she actually does.²* Excellen Browning of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2'' towards her boyfriend Kyosuke Nanbu. Towards other people: [[TheTease slightly]] [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl the same]], [[CoolBigSis but a different story]]. [[spoiler:And yup, she also died...[[DeadAllAlong on the day she and Kyosuke met, in fact]]...[[WeCanRebuildHim but she got better]]]]. Subverted when it turns out she had severe loneliness issues herself. Presumably, [[TheStoic Kyosuke]] saving her from certain death in their backstory is what caused her to embrace this trope and declare herself his quirky girlfriend.²* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'':²** Depending on how you play, your character can be one of these for Casavir, or a male version for Elanee.²** Gann can be a male one for the player in ''Mask of the Betrayer''.²** Neeshka seems to play this role in some parts of the main campaign.²* Rinoa in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is a subversion: she comes off as a classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl at first when she's playfully urging Squall to dance at the [=SeeD=] graduation ball, and while it soon becomes clear that she does in fact have her own problems as a member of LaResistance against the Galbadian occupation of Timber, she has much more well-meaning enthusiasm and optimism than she has the skill and experience needed to follow through with her big plans. However, she gets a rude awakening as to just how high the stakes are by the end of the first disc, and while she continues to encourage Squall to open up to her and others throughout the game, it's no longer in the manner of this trope.²* Marta Lualdi of ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld''. Perhaps not the typical variation in that there are some...rather important other concerns as well, but she seems to tie just about everything back to her unrequited crush on Emil. She also works as a Deconstruction of one, as her love for Emil and attempts to better his personality only work in making Emil more annoyed. So by trying to be the girl who can change the cynical shy boy with no friends, she instead ends up driving him away and worsening their relationship. It doesn't help that until her CharacterDevelopment, she doesn't acknowledge Emil's real personality and is really imposing her own heroic views onto him.²* A supporting character variation in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' with Pascal for Hubert. He starts out completely cold, withdrawn, and mistrustful, but by the end of the future arc Pascal has completely worn him down with her friendliness and wacky charm, and around her he's either a stammering dork, an aspiring romantic, or a knight in shining armor, depending on the context. It's a last minute subversion, though, because she has no idea about his feelings for her [[spoiler:even once he pretty explicitly tells her he's in love with her]]. It's hinted she might return his feelings, but they're stuck with a MaybeEverAfter.²* Shiki Misaki of ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' is a subversion: she has the job of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl: she gets Neku to begin to come out of his moody, loner shell and learn the game's {{Aesop}} about trying to connect with other people. However, she does have a number of her own problems, not the least of which is [[spoiler:she's only pretending to be this type of character because in reality, she's just as shy and lonely as Neku]].²%% * Milla Vodello in ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' appears to be this, but once you find her memory vaults [[spoiler:and her nightmare room, and uncover her tragic past]] she turns out to be a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. However, she and Sasha Nein are heavily implied to be a couple, despite the fact that they could not be more opposite in personality.²* The only thing keeping Kay Faraday in ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney Investigations'' from being a textbook MPDG to Miles Edgeworth is that their relationship isn't portrayed romantically. The same can be said for Phoenix Wright's relationship with Maya Fey, or just about any assistant of the main character.²* Flonne from ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' initially joins Laharl to see if demons are capable of love, and starts [[LoveFreak lecturing them.]]²* Catherine from the Atlus puzzle game ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}''. [[spoiler:Deconstructed, in that Catherine's a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin literal]] pixie dream girl, being a [[HornyDevils succubus]] who's taken on the form of the main character's ideal woman.]]²* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', the female protagonist has some elements of this in her relationship with Shinjiro Aragaki. It's most evident in about the eighth rank of his Social Link; having previously thrown a party for the rest of the dorm at the protagonist's instigation, he reflects on how good it felt and how he wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been for her influence; by the end of the game she has given him a new lease on life, [[spoiler:only to herself die as a result of performing a HeroicSacrifice to stop TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]].²* In ''VideoGame/NamcoHigh'', Valkyrie's chirpy demeanour, rampant use of internet acronyms, and sheer joie de vivre put her into this role -- coaxing Cousin to try new things, giving everything 100%, and just generally having fun with stuff. [[spoiler:Then, at the end of her route, she has to go back to her own time and never returns, which [[BittersweetEnding typically kicks the player right in the feels]] in the process]].²* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' the second-gen Kitsune, Selkie, serves as this to the more dour guys, such as Dwyer and Ignatius. She constantly tries to drag them places and get them to enjoy life.²** Elise is an interesting case in that, while naturally an upbeat and outgoing person, there are times when it's implied that she's deliberately exaggerating these traits in order to be a soothing presence for her more jaded siblings. The trope is played a little bit straighter in [[spoiler:her supports with Ryoma and Takumi]].²* Tidus from ''Videogame/FinalFantasyX'' is a rare male protagonist example for Yuna. He came into her life out of nowhere when she's about to go on a pilgrimage [[spoiler:that will more or less make her a glorified human sacrifice]], and his cheerful and somewhat goofy outlook and his tendency to keep asking questions about parts of her culture that she just took for granted helps her grow as a person. [[spoiler:He's also a literal dream boy.]]²* Merrill from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' has shades of this. She's [[CloudCuckooLander quirky]], [[TheIngenue innocent]], [[{{Adorkable}} endearingly]] [[CuteClumsyGirl awkward]] and probably the most optimistic companion, nearly always cheerful and friendly. If on the friendship path, she just about hero worships [[PlayerCharacter Hawke]] and harbors an obvious crush on them. However, her character development and very concrete goals outside of Hawke ultimately save her from this trope.²** Alternatively, Snarky!Hawke can demonstrate shades of this toward [[TheComicallySerious Fenris]], who is rather [[TheStoic stoic]] and [[TheEeyore dour]] in comparison.²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Visual Novels]]²* ''VideoGame/SentimentalGraffiti'': Emiru's manic-ness made her a social outcast with everyone except the protagonist.²* ''Yume Miru Kusuri'' {{subvert|edTrope}}s this quite harshly. Nekoko seems like a literal Manic Pixie Dream Girl, being a quirky and cheeky counterpart to the sulky, brooding male protagonist. In her route you learn that [[spoiler:she's neither a pixie nor a dream girl, but a shy and troubled drug addict that tries to escape her dull life]].²* In the Flash-based visual short story ''VisualNovel/AirPressure'', [[FeaturelessProtagonist a nameless young man]] is re-evaluating his continuing relationship with Leigh, an [=MPDG=] who came into his life a few years ago. [[PlayingWithATrope How closely she fits this formula depends on your choices.]] [[spoiler:Ultimately {{subverted}} after a couple plays through [[FridgeHorror when the addiction subtext sinks in]].]]²* Haruka from ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'' seems like this on the surface, with her GenkiGirl behaviour, wild antics, and propensity for pulling silly pranks and dragging [[NiceGuy Riki]] along for the ride. However, the trope is subverted, as it turns out Haruka does all of this very much for her own sake: [[spoiler:namely, as a way of getting back at her straitlaced, 'perfect' twin sister Kanata who is supposed to be controlling her while at the same time proving that her own rule-free life away from her extended family from which she has been exiled is much better than her sister's under their control. It doesn't work, and as her route goes down the facade breaks down more and more, revealing the incredibly insecure, socially awkward girl underneath]].²* Odon's wife Karen in ''VisualNovel/FleuretBlanc'' is less hyperactive than most examples, the narrative is similar: She came into his life when he was in a dark place, and her peaceful and spiritual outlook influenced many of his current beliefs and life decisions. She also [[DisposableWoman died tragically]].²* Ciel starts out looking like one for Shiki in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}''. [[spoiler:It's an act; she's a HunterOfMonsters, and is trying to get close to him because she thinks he's [[DemonicPossession Roa's latest host.]] While she [[BecomingTheMask actually falls for him]] over the course of the story, her 'real self' is [[DeathSeeker somewhat less cheery.]]]]²* [[SchoolNewsPaperNewsHound Tamie Nogi]]'s route in ''VisualNovel/PrincessEvangile'' has her become this to Masaya. Until their trip together throughout Japan, Masaya had mostly been having an uneventful stay in Vincennes following the Premier Jugment. Her inviting him on that trip signals the change of his stay there to a far more eventful one.²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Web Comics]]²* Questioned in ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' ("[[http://xkcd.com/122/ Quirky Girls]]: Do you actually mean it?"), and also [[http://xkcd.com/308/ played straight on occasion]].²* In ''Webcomic/AGirlAndHerFed'', said Girl is indeed manic, and said Fed is rather unsurprisingly a stuffed shirt. However, she didn't so much break him out of his funk so much as break him out of a brainwash given by the government agency that is now likely to kill them for it at some point, as the super intelligent koala pointed out. Also, her antics were kept under control in the past by the ghost of Benjamin Franklin. [[WorldOfWeirdness It's that kind of comic]].²* Subverted in ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'', where Robin's attempts at this usually ''do'' just wind up annoying the hell out of Ethan, Amber, and whoever else she might decide to latch onto.²* [[GenkiGirl Missi]] from ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}''. Of course, this puts her directly between Ash and her [[FirstGirlWins canon love interest]], leading to Missi catching [[DieForOurShip a lot of flak]] from some fans.²* ''Webcomic/GhastlysGhastlyComic'':²** Several male characters in initially thought that Freddie would be this for them. [[UnsettlingGenderReveal Surprise!]]²** The series also has the appropriately named Kwerki, a CloudCuckoolander who acts like she's looking for someone to play this role for. In her more lucid moments.²* This ''[[http://www.nerdcomics.com/sdjc/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/influence1.png Sex, Drugs, and June Cleaver]]'' strip points out some of the implications of this trope, with [[AuthorAvatar Bree]] imagining herself in this role.²* Nils in ''Webcomic/PlatinumGrit''. Though honestly, Given all the weirdness in Jeremy's life, it's actually up to the other girl, Kate, to be the inverse of a MPDG and pull him back to reality.²* Maytag from ''Webcomic/{{Flipside}}'' is an unabashed hedonist and [[GoodBadGirl nymphomaniac]] who takes it upon herself to break shy people (of either gender) out of their shells. She's also an interesting variation because her outgoing personality is largely a [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman function of her outfit]]; her mask persona is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl for ''herself''.²* Briefly parodied in ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'' [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2013-02-27 here]].²* Subverted in the ''Webcomic/CiemWebcomicSeries'', and also gets a GenderFlip. Denny was the Manic Pixie Man that stirred things up for ''Candi'', allowing her to (somewhat) get over the loss of her ever-brooding (but kind-hearted) Donte. ²* Maple from ''Webcomic/HazardsWake'' is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl in her own mind. (In reality, she's more a Manic Girl with romantic delusions.)²* In ''Webcomic/RedString'', Hanae serves this roll for Fuuko. She breaks her out of her shell and shows her that it's ok to love someone, even if she is a [[SchoolgirlLesbians little different]]. Deconstructed when Hanae's finally outed to her mother who doesn't take this well -- and it's ''Fuuko'' that has to be Hanae's pillar of support and strength.²* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'':²** Zii fits the pattern. Irresponsible, almost always "up", and easily distracted, she has left a trail of hurt feelings and disrupted relationships behind her. Despite that, her interactions with Gary, [=DiDi=], and Sonya have shaken them all out of assorted ruts and induced them to try something different, while Erik seems to have had something of a romantic MPDG image of her. Things get more complicated with and for her as the comic goes on, and the consequences of her manic pixie irresponsibility sometimes come back to bite her; notably, while she was only looking for a short-term fling with Sonya, Sonya has become [[StalkerWithACrush infatuated with her]].²** Gary is something of an MPDG magnet. After Yuki has split up with him, Sonya gives him a crash course in basic sexual activity, but turns out to be more interested in pursuing Zii for MPDG services. But shortly after that relationship ends, Senna crashes through his door, tells him a series of colorful lies, and drags him off to Paris by way of the MileHighClub. Mind you, Senna is more of a dangerously {{narcissist}}ic flake than true MPDG material. Gary's big problem in all this, though, is that he's far too passive to learn any useful lessons about life and love from any of them.²* Roomie and Lillian from ''Webcomic/GoGetARoomie'' would seem to fit the trope, the former being promiscuous, usually drunk, and [[GoodBadGirl teasing everyone]] and the latter being solitary, sheltered, and emotionless. That said, the trope itself is in equal parts downplayed, deconstructed, and ''inverted''. Neither Lillian nor Roomie is shown as really ''happy'' with their role, and both end up changing their lives after making friends with the other.²* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'':²** Ellen invokes this trope intentionally to differentiate herself from the rather-straitlaced Elliot. Non romantic example, as she is his OppositeSexClone, and they see each other as more like brother and sister. Though she tries to act much the same way [[SchoolgirlLesbians with Nanase]], too.²** Grace can be like this to Tedd, especially in the "One Way Road" arc where he's gotten too wrapped up in MadScience to the detriment of his friendships and social life.²** Ashley is a strong example of this trope, appearing shortly after Elliot's breakup with Sarah, and generally serving little plot importance but to help Elliot avoid dealing with emotional distress.²%% * Katie from ''Webcomic/RegularGuy'' possibly sees herself as this and seems to fit the trope for Reg... it ends unpleasantly.²* Played from a lesbian perspective by Winter in ''Webcomic/{{Girly}}''. Interestingly, this seems to be a personality she developed purely to get Otra. Before her, she was a very cultured, dull and incredibly selfish girl. In other words, ''Otra'' played this role for ''Winter'' while having none of the personality normally involved with it.²* Two scripts by John Allison:²** In ''Webcomic/ScaryGoRound'' we have nerdy Eustace Boyce [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep (aka "The Boy")]] and his PerkyGoth girlfriend Esther de Groot. They became a couple during a trip to Wales, which Esther had initiated relatively spontaneously.²** The one-shot strip [[http://scarygoround.tumblr.com/post/64025638903/a-special-bonus-comic-theres-a-new-manic-pixie Cupcakes McKenzie]] is subtitled "Manic Pixie Dream Girl".²* In ''Webcomic/{{Bobwhite}}'', Georgia sees his girlfriend Shoshanna as [[http://www.bobwhitecomics.com/?webcomic_post=20090701 someone exciting, someone who does things.]] Everyone else sees Shoshanna as a drug abuser whose lack of inhibition turns every conversation into a trainwreck.²* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':²** Nepeta, a quirky, ship-crazy, roleplaying green-blooded troll, whose moirail, [[TheStoic Equius]] is far more serious and dogmatic regarding the blood caste and acting superior to lowbloods, despite her best efforts to make him more tolerant of the lower castes. Due to how troll relationships work[[note]]Moirails are two platonic partners that don't have romantic feelings towards each other, but are still described as sharing a form of love and an exclusive relationship, in which both parties protect each other and balance out their personalities to keep each other in check[[/note]], theirs is not romantic.²** Jane becomes this in Trickster Mode. Unlike most examples, however, [[TheCorruption this is not]] [[ComesGreatInsanity a good thing]]. Ultimately deconstructed.²%% * In ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'' and ''Webcomic/{{QUILTBAG}}'', this is Lisa's primary character trait… [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype so much so that when being one doesn't or can't work, she falls into a (brief) funk.]]²%% * Blossom in ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}'' [[spoiler:There's quite a bit of circumstantial evidence that suggests this might be literal]]²* One strip of ''Webcomic/CriticalMiss'' invokes the title verbatim. Twice.²* ''Webcomic/GirlsNextDoor'' subverts it with Jareth and Sarah, since Jareth has the [[TheFairFolk Manic Pixie]] part down pat on his own and really needs a [[http://pika-la-cynique.deviantart.com/art/GND191-Canny-Human-Dream-Girl-312538623 Canny Human Dream Girl]] to keep him in line. ²%% * In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent.'' While some of this could be chalked up to her weed-smoking habits and her own pining for her, Tai comes across as a Magical Pixie Dream Queer for Dora once starts [[BiTheWay openly questioning her sexuality.]]²* ''Webcomic/StickyDillyBuns'' gender-inverts and reconstructs the trope with Dillon and Ruby. He plays the manic pixie role toward her, but aside from the fact that their relationship is entirely platonic (Dillon being very, very {{gay|BestFriend}}), Ruby has just as much of an effect on Dillon, making him consider the consequences of his actions more, as he does on her.²* Aurora fulfills this role for Pasqualo in ''Webcomic/ItHurts''. Where he was constantly trying to put himself down and had a terrible home life, in comes Aurora, who makes his day a little brighter and becomes what the author described as a "happy pill" for him. Then it turns out his fixation on her presence making him happy turns into an obsession, and over time the story makes it clear that she has her own wants and needs as well. [[spoiler:That, and their coupling isn't healthy for themselves ''or'' [[ApocalypseHow the Earth]].]]²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Web Original]]²* Satirized in ''[[http://youtu.be/XL2ekEeMk0Q Manic Pixie Prostitute]]'' a [=YouTube=] short commenting on the male obsession with the 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' caricature and the female response to it. A middle-aged married man in a suit meets an exasperated prostitute in a hotel room. Instead of sex, he asks her to role play: "I want you to turn my life upside down with your whimsical joie de vivre," -- an act she finds "demeaning."²%% * Jade Sinclair (codename Generator) of the Literature/WhateleyUniverse is unquestionably playing this role in her relationship with control freak Thuban.²%% * Deconstructed in [[http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/d3ebb7016c/that-adorable-girl-from-that-movie this]] Funny Or Die article.²%% * The associated imagery is rather popular, Website/DeviantArt shows -- [[http://drcloud.deviantart.com/art/Amazing-Technicolour-Tigercoat-156527437 Amazing Technicolour Tigercoat]] by drcloud or [Welcome to the] [[http://anikakinka.deviantart.com/art/o064-Dream-59923794 Dream]] by anikakinka.²* The parody trailer ''WebVideo/ATrailerForEveryAcademyAwardWinningMovieEver'' includes a token Manic Pixie Dream Girl in the form of Lead Female. She helps Wealthy, Successful Protagonist to open up and enjoy his life to the fullest, though she does share that role with Inspirationally Disadvantaged Guy.²-->'''Protagonist:''' Interest in your bold rejection of social norms as evidenced by your dyed hair.²* Referenced in [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee's]] review of ''VideoGame/SimCity''.²-->'''Yahtzee:''' Listen to me EA: not every introvert is longing for the day that Zooey Fucking Deschanel kicks their door down and forcibly drags them to a roller rink.²%% * Website/{{Cracked}}:²%% ** Parodied/deconstructed in [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18574_the-awkward-moment-when-you-notice-quirky-girl-insane.html this]] video.²%% ** The video series The Katie Willert Experience [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18380_the-dark-secret-behind-quirky-romantic-comedies.html The Dark Secret Behind Quirky Romantic Comedies]] shows the implications of the trope if taken to a logical conclusion.²%% * Cynthia of ''Literature/TheDescendants'' is descirbed as this by [[WordofGod Word of God]]²%% * Zoeya to Rythian in the Yogscast series Blackrock Chronicles.²* Feminist media critic [[WebVideo/FeministFrequency Anita Sarkeesian]] discussed this trope in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqJUxqkcnKA the first episode]] in her "Tropes Vs. Women" series, calling it a poor effort by Hollywood writers to create less subdominant roles for females, as it's still a character who's meant to serve the needs of the male lead.²* There is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBNss2PMj60 State Home for Manic Pixie Dream Girls]]. Turns out most manic pixies need to be eventually institutionalised. Kyle's heart is breaking as he has to have his wife Katie committed. She's adorable in a quirky and awkward way... but she wanders and marvels at ''everything'', can't feed herself (she only ever eats pancakes), wants to pay in buttons, listens to music with unplugged headphones, blows kisses to people she doesn't know etc. All the manic-pixies at the facility are similar: they all listen to ''Music/TheSmiths'', they fight over a CD mix which to them is like catnip to cats, they talk about star-gazing, get crafty with pipe clears and dance happily in the rain. The woman in charge handling Katie's case says the Manic Pixie Dream Girl condition is still dimly understood, but she has her own theory: severe retardation of the brain. ²* Subverted in ''WebVideo/GemmaAndTheBear'', which features a gay, platonic Manic Pixie Dream Guy. Gemma is a timid, nerdy, neurotic white woman who turns into a "carpe diem-loving, fly-by-the-seat-of his-pants" gay black man named Bear when she falls asleep. Bear has decided that he and Gemma need a man and that Gemma overall just needs some more spice in her life! Unfortunately, he mostly causes trouble and makes things even more complicated. ²* ''WebVideo/ManicPixieDreamWife'': Deconstructed. Chance met his dream girl Simone who is beautiful, gentle, quirky, lovable and a manic-pixie-dream-girl up-to-eleven. He loves her, but being married to her is exhausting... She reassures and encourages her friends and random people to follow their hearts or to keep pursuing their passions like music; people admire her ukulele skills and her singing; she likes to pretend to be an alien or a baby, she keeps throwing dinners with a theme (like an under sea dinner party for Chance and her, and their pet fish Morrissy insisted to join them, too), she loves making music mixes for her husband, she doesn't like 'dangerous chemicals' (even medicine, because pharmaceutical companies are evil), she works for a charity dressed as a dancing potted flower... and so on and so forth. She's very loving and inspiring, but Chance becomes extremely tired from her various adventures and her attempts to self-actualize him all the time, and to his horror, he starts to feel attracted to a firm, energetic and funny woman who acts like a grown-up. [[spoiler:It turns out that Simone actually acts this way because Chance needs to be cheered up all the time, and others expect her to behave in that way, too.]]²[[/folder]]²²[[folder:Western Animation]]²%% * [[ComicBook/TheWasp Janet]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' tries to be this for her [[CanNotSpitItOut ''kinda'']] boyfriend [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank]]. ²%% * {{Gender Inverted|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' with Kid Flash and Jinx.²* Aang in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' could be considered this not only to Katara, but to ''the entire world''. This messiah's message is "have fun, not wars." He moves out of it in later seasons, to the point that halfway through season 2 he was becoming a full time GrumpyBear (the wackiness by then having moved over to Toph and Sokka). ²* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Korra is a subversion, if not ''double''-subversion from Mako's perspective as she's the protagonist that clearly has her own goals from constantly saving the world to personal issues like PTSD, (he's just a SpotlightStealingSquad for half the series at most,) [[spoiler:break up for good by Book 2's end,]] but she otherwise turns his life upside-down and ultimately for the better as he reflects on her as remaining an inspiration in the fourth season ClipShow.²* Deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', while Star does seem to make Marco's life more interesting, the show is more about her growing as a character by toning down her chaotic overenthusiasm by being with the safety-minded, level-headed Marco.²* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', "Independent Movie":²** Creator/ZooeyDeschanel (of course) played one of these (explicitly referred to as such) in this episode ,0--designed to resemble a stereotypical independent film.²--->'''Steve:''' Um, hi. Uh, can I help you with your cello?\²'''Girl:''' No, it's my suitcase. I just don't think all suitcases should be rectangles, y'know? I think sometimes suitcases can be cello cases with clothes in them.\²'''Steve:''' ...What are you doing here?\²'''Girl:''' I'm travelling cross country taking Polaroid pictures of people walking other people's dogs. It's pretty hard to tell, but I didn't become an artist because it was easy.²** Steve acts as a Manic Pixie Dream Guy for Snot by trying to get him to come to terms with his feelings about his fathers death, even though Snot doesn't think he cares about it.²* Gender inverted in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', with Steven as the literal magical boy bringing excitement to the life of bored, lonely Connie. They even have a CrashIntoHello.²* In ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesRabbitsRun'', Lola Bunny is this to WesternAnimation/BugsBunny. At the beginning, Bugs has been a disappointed [[TheCynic cynic]] since a high rise was built over his rabbit hole, and all he wants is to find another hole and live alone. Lola, a CloudCuckoolander and TalkativeLoon, shows him that there are better ways to live.²%% * At her most intense, Pinkie Pie from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is this, playing it straight in "A Friend in Deed", save Pinkie being a love interest (bar some brief InnocentInnuendo and a look of [[NoYay absolute horror]]).²* In ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'', Ms. Frizzle fits the platonic version of this trope as much as possible in order to give her students excitement in learning, and in the episode "[[Recap/TheMagicSchoolBusS1E11GoesToSeed Goes To Seed]]", [[ShipTease she acts like the literal example of this trope towards Mr. Seedplot.]]²* In ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'', the episode "Fashion Bears" has Panda meet a MPDG named Samantha who loves doing impulsive things, like picking random people up with her tandem bike and riding through car washes. Panda quickly realizes how bad her impulsivity is when she assumes him tying his shoe is a marriage proposal.²[[/folder]]²----

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